My shift as a Covid Tracking Project checker was insightful as much as it was informative. Initially, I was nervous to begin the shift because I was afraid that I would make a mistake or enter an incorrect number for one of the states. However, my shift went smoothly and all of the volunteers were quick to answer my questions. One of the aspects that I loved the most was the quick communication between all of the volunteers. The shift leads, checkers, and other volunteers were very helpful and gave me a lot of tips on how to get started with the Covid tracking project.
During my shift, two of the states that I focused on were Nevada and Oklahoma. Both of these states weren’t too difficult for me to cover, but there were moments where I had trouble finding certain data sets. I asked the shift leads for help when I couldn’t find certain Covid statistics for Oklahoma, they answered my question right away on the Slack channel. They also gave me advice and tips on how to get more comfortable with the state websites and tracking the data. I felt like it was a data community where I was able to ask questions freely and without judgement.
I would say that both states were quite easy in finding the correct data sets for the Covid Tracking Project. However, I think that Nevada’s website is easier when trying to find the data efficiently. On Nevada’s Covid tracking dashboard, it divides each data into simple categories for you to look it up more easily. Some of those categories are current status, confirmed cases trends, and mortality trends. These categories made it easy for me to find the exact numbers I needed by clicking on one of these categories.
There was one moment where I made a mistake in one of the sections of the Covid tracking sheet. I was supposed to enter in a formula in one of the sections, to calculate current hospitalizations in Nevada. I did this section wrong, and luckily one of the shift leads contacted me and said she could help me calculate this formula. She was very nice and helpful with teaching me the steps in correcting that section. I felt like this community taught me a lot and I learned a lot about each state’s website for Covid tracking, and I would like to help them out again.