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Catarina’s Covid Tracking Project Reflection

What I find the most fascinating about the Covid Tracking Project is how the team was able to pull together a tracking system from such a confusing and inconsistent number of sources. It’s surprising, on one hand, that the country doesn’t have a uniform way to pull this type of data together all together. But on the other side it’s fascinating to hear about and see how the The COVID Tracking Project developed.

I also really appreciate how they were able to find practical solutions to put this project in motion — from getting a system of volunteers in place to cover all shifts to establishing clear channels of communications to help everyone go through the work and troubleshoot together, and making sure that everyone gets proper training, practicing and then observing. Like a lot of data work, I think it maybe takes a little bit to get introduced to the work, but once you do, it’s actually much easier.

My three states for the practice exercise were Virginia, Virgin Islands and Vermont. I have to say I was surprised by how much longer than I thought it took me to get the hang of it. I actually tried a few states first where I struggled with their website, so I had to change. In the end, I spent a lot of time figuring thing out. It was honestly a little bit frustrating —I had to ask for help from people from class a few times. But then when I understood it, it took me only about 10 minutes to finish all three states.

I haven’t managed to do a shift yet, because I saw that they were all booked up for the weekend, so I have to do it this upcoming week. I’ve looked at the data spreadsheet and I feel confident that I am well prepared for my shift — especially after the initial training we went through.