Author: Sam Krystal

Deep in rural Nebraska sits a meatpacking plant, where workers stand shoulder to shoulder for hours at a time. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, plant workers pack into windowless rooms for their lunch breaks, where they cannot wear masks while eating.

A recent federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union documented how, in the absence of proper oversight, unsafe working conditions throughout the Nebraskan meatpacking industry created a breeding ground for Covid-19 infection. The lawsuit alleges that plants failed to take basic measures to protect their workers, such as adequate masks provision and Covid-19 testing. “It’s a terrible cycle,” says Albert Maribaga, a South Sudanese community leader, and employment specialist at the Catholic Social Services of Nebraska, “young men go to work at these plants, get sick and don’t know it, and come home and infect their families.”

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the South Sudanese immigrant community of Nebraska has been hit hard, trapped in poor working conditions due to an uncertain economy. Nebraska is home to one of the largest enclaves of South Sudanese immigrants in the United States, with an estimated 10,000 residents in Omaha alone. According to researchers University of Nebraska Omaha, the population of South Sudanese residents in Nebraska is small enough that its value is not publicly available, by the United States Census Bureau. This redaction indicates that the Nebraskan South Sudanese population falls between 10,000 and 65,000 residents. The population of Black or African American residents in Nebraska is 100590 as of 2019, South Sudanese Nebraskans may account for anywhere between 10%-64.5% of that sub-population.

Data from The Atlantic’s Covid Tracking Project reveals that Black or African American Nebraskans account for 5% of the state’s Covid-19 cases, and 6% of their Covid-19 deaths. The accuracy of Nebraska’s Covid-19 race data reporting is suspect, as state officials have only disclosed race data for 50% of cases, and 62% of deaths. In the graph below, we see that of Nebraska’s minority communities Black or African Americans (represented in turquoise) had the highest Covid-19 case rates, as of December 9^th, 2020. It should be noted that Nebraska does not report Covid-19 rates for the LatinX community.

Organizations like the Catholic Social Services of Nebraska, and the Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska help place South Sudanese immigrants in jobs throughout the state. This is not an easy task, as 79.3% of South Sudanese immigrants come to America with a high school level education or less. The Nebraska Office of Health Disparities and Health Equities reports 52.7% of homes that speak African languages speak English less than “very well”. “Because of the pandemic, all job interviews are over the phone,” says Maribaga “translators are not allowed in phone interviews”. With these limitations, South Sudanese community members often are limited to work in meatpacking warehouses, nursing homes, and as housekeepers – all high-risk jobs in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prior to, and throughout the pandemic, the Trump administration has pursued an aggressive deregulatory agenda, reducing safety standards for industrial and service workers. In 2017, the Trump administration halted electronic reporting of workplace injury and illness reports by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In June 2018, Trump’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services halved fines for nursing homes violating safe working condition practices. Although the federal government was pressured to require greater transparency from nursing homes regarding Covid-19 outbreaks in May 2020, these facilities are not required to inform staff members about case rates in their facilities.

But it is the conditions in the Nebraskan meatpacking facilities, such as the Smithfield Foods warehouse in Crete, and Noah’s Ark processing plant in Hastings, that have been the source of countless Covid-19 cases, and deaths. In February 2018, the Trump administration revised inspection standards for the Federal Food Safety and Inspection Service, reducing government oversight of safety measures in meatpacking warehouses with the intent to increase food production speeds.

South Sudanese meatpacking workers have relied on their employers’ healthcare plans to protect them and their families during the pandemic, all too often these healthcare plans are insufficient. Albert Maribaga reports new meatpacking workers find themselves without coverage, if their healthcare deductibles go unmet. Maribaga also notes that long term hospital care is not covered in meatpacking healthcare plans. Workers infected with Covid-19 are forced to stay home without pay, with no room in their budget to seek the extended treatment necessary to deal with severe symptoms. Christa Yoakum, Senior Welcoming Coordinator for Nebraska Appleseed’s Immigrants & Communities Program, alluded to another issue with meatpacking healthcare: “many plans are not accepted by local hospitals, and in-network hospitals are too far away to access”. Undocumented South Sudanese Nebraskans are unlikely to seek treatment altogether, as they are without social security numbers.

The Nebraskan South Sudanese community faces socioeconomic factors, outside of poor working conditions, that contribute to the spread and fatalities of Covid-19. Approximately 1 in 3 Black, non-Hispanic Nebraskans live in poverty. According to Christa Yoakum: “if workers don’t get Covid in the factory, they get it while carpooling to and from the factory because they cannot afford individual transportation”. Yoakum also points out, that often times both parents in immigrant households get infected with Covid-19, because both work in the same facility.

Cezar Garcia, a Community Organizer for Nebraska Appleseed’s Immigrants & Communities Program, highlights how community dynamics, brought on by economic stress, contributes to the spread of Covid-19 in the South Sudanese community: “often times meatpacking workers aren’t just providing for their immediate family, they support their extended family too”. Sole providers for households or extended networks face pressure to show up for work regardless of health risks, even if they test positive for Covid-19. It is common in these communities for older members to live with their families, because they cannot afford housing in assisted living centers. While younger family members with more robust immune systems can fight off the symptoms of Covid-19, elders perish. At the time of our interview, Albert Maribaga knew of five community elders who had passed away that week.

Some Nebraskan institutions are developing programs to help their immigrant communities, centered around inclusion, employment, and awareness. In South Sioux City, newscasters have been broadcasting public service announcements about Covid-19 in the different languages of Nebraska’s immigrant communities. “These awareness initiatives are so important,” says Cezar Garcia, “I have heard stories about people who don’t know when or how to wear their masks, and they’ve been relying on the news to get that information”. Food banks across Nebraska have adjusted their models for food delivery, opting to subsidize restaurants and grocery stores that serve foods from immigrant’s home countries. Christa Yoakum has confirmed that an anonymous donor has financed an angel fund to help pay for the treatment of Covid-19 infected undocumented workers. The Worldwide Education Services have doubled down on its existing proposals to Nebraska’s state senate lobbying for the certification of immigrant practitioners who hold medical licenses in their home countries to be certified as registered nurses and vaccine administrants.

The road to commensurate support for South Sudanese immigrants in Nebraska is long, but the Covid-19 pandemic has brought them unprecedented connection to non-for-profits. “Nebraska is a big state, we have relied on volunteers and word of mouth to build connections to immigrant communities,” says Yoakum “now, we have direct communication with community members, and we will strengthen and deepen our ties with them to provide long term support.”

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the South Sudanese immigrant community of Nebraska have been hit hard, trapped in poor working conditions in an uncertain economy. Nebraska is home to one of the largest enclaves of South Sudanese immigrants in the United States, with an estimated 10,000 residents in Omaha alone. According to researchers University of Nebraska Omaha, the population of South Sudanese residents in Nebraska is small enough that its value is not publicly available, by the United States Census Bureau. This indicates that the Nebraskan South Sudanese population falls between 10,000 and 65,000 residents. The population of Black or African American residents in Nebraska is 100590 – therefore, South Sudanese Nebraskans could account for anywhere from 10%-64.5% of that sub-population.

Data from The Atlantic’s Covid Tracking Project reveals that Black or African American Nebraskans account for 5% of the state’s Covid-19 cases, and 6% of their Covid-19 deaths. The accuracy of Nebraska’s Covid-19 race data reporting is suspect, as state officials have only disclosed race data for 55% of cases, and 71% of deaths. In the graph below, we see that of Nebraska’s minority communities Black or African Americans, represented in turquoise, had the highest Covid-19 case rates, as of December 2^nd, 202. It should be noted that Nebraska does not report Covid-19 rates for the LatinX community.

But what factors contribute to these troubling statistics?

Organizations like the Catholic Social Services of Nebraska, and the Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska help place South Sudanese immigrants in jobs throughout the state. This is not an easy task, as 79.3% of South Sudanese immigrants come to America with a high school level education or less. The Nebraska Office of Health Disparities and Health Equities reports 52.7% of homes that speak African languages speak English less than “very well”. With these limitations, South Sudanese community members often can only find work in meatpacking warehouses, nursing homes, and as housekeepers – all high-risk jobs in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prior to, and through the pandemic, the Trump administration has pursued an aggressive deregulation agenda, reducing safety standards for industrial and service workers. In 2017, the Trump administration halted electronic reporting of workplace injury and illness reports by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In June 2018, Trump’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services halved fines for nursing homes that violated safe working condition practices. Although the federal government was pressured to require greater transparency from nursing homes regarding Covid-19 outbreaks in May 2020, nursing homes are not required to inform staff members about case rates in their facilities.

But it is the conditions in the meatpacking industry, such as the Smithfield Foods warehouse in Crete, Nebraska and Noah’s Ark processing plant in Hastings, that have been the source of countless Covid-19 cases, and deaths. In February 2018, the Trump administration revised inspection standards for the Federal Food Safety and Inspection Service, reducing oversight of safety measures in meatpacking warehouses with the intent to increase food production.

A recent federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union documented how, in the absence of proper oversight, unsafe working conditions throughout the Nebraskan meatpacking industry created a breeding ground for Covid-19 infection. Workers were expected to stand shoulder to shoulder for hours at a time on processing lines and sat crowded together in small windowless cafeterias where they could not wear masks while eating. All the while, plants failed to take basic measures to protect their workers, such as adequate masks provision and Covid-19 testing. “It’s a terrible cycle,” says Albert Maribaga, a South Sudanese community leader, and employment specialist at the Catholic Social Services of Nebraska, “young men go to work at these plants, get sick and don’t know it, and come home and infect their families”.

The Nebraskan South Sudanese community faces socioeconomic factors, outside poor working conditions, that contribute to the spread and fatalities of Covid-19. Approximately 1 in 3 Black, non-Hispanic Nebraskans live in poverty. According to Christa Yoakum, Senior Welcoming Coordinator for Nebraska Appleseed’s Immigrants & Communities Program: “if workers don’t get Covid in the factory, they get it while carpooling to and from the factory because they cannot afford individual transportation”. Yoakum also points out, that often times both parents in immigrant households get infected with Covid-19, because both work in the same facility.

Cezar Garcia, a Community Organizer for Nebraska Appleseed’s Immigrants & Communities Program, highlights how community dynamics, brought on by economic stress, contributes to the spread of Covid-19 in the South Sudanese community: “often times meatpacking workers aren’t just providing for their immediate family, they support their extended family too”. The pressure to provide for such a large network of loved ones incentivizes family members to show up for work even if they test positive for Covid-19. It is common in Nebraskan South Sudanese communities for older members to live with their families, because they cannot afford housing in assisted living centers. While younger family members with more robust immune systems can fight off the symptoms of Covid-19, elders perish. At the time of our interview, Albert Maribaga knew of five community elders who had passed away that week.

South Sudanese meatpacking workers have relied on their company healthcare plans to protect them and their families during the pandemic, all too often these healthcare plans are insufficient. Albert Maribaga reports new meatpacking workers find themselves without coverage, as their healthcare deductibles are unmet. Maribaga also notes that long term hospital care is not covered in meatpacking healthcare plans. Workers infected with Covid-19 are forced to stay home without pay, with no room in their budget to seek the extended treatment necessary to deal with severe symptoms. Christa Yoakum alluded to another issue with meatpacking healthcare; many plans are not accepted by local hospitals, and in-network hospitals are too far away to access. Undocumented South Sudanese Nebraskans are unlikely to seek treatment altogether, as they are without social security numbers.

Some Nebraskan institutions are developing programs to help their immigrant communities, centered around inclusion, employment, and awareness. For instance, in South Sioux City, newscasters have been broadcasting public service announcements about Covid-19 in the different languages of Nebraska’s immigrant communities. “These awareness initiatives are so important,” says Cezar Garcia, “I have heard stories about people who don’t know when or how to wear their masks, and they’ve been relying on the news to get that information”. Food banks across Nebraska have adjusted their models for food delivery, opting to subsidize restaurants and grocery stores that serve foods from immigrant’s home countries. Christa Yoakum has confirmed that an anonymous donor has financed an angel fund to help pay for the treatment of Covid-19 infected undocumented workers. The Worldwide Education Services have doubled down on their existing proposals to Nebraska’s state senate; lobbying for the certification of immigrant practitioners who held medical licenses in their home countries to be certified registered nurses and vaccine administrants.

The road to commensurate support for South Sudanese immigrants in Nebraska is long, but the Covid-19 pandemic has brought them unprecedented connection to non-for-profits. “Nebraska is a big state, we have relied on volunteers and word of mouth to build connections to immigrant communities,” says Yoakum “now, we have direct communication with community members, and we will strengthen and deepen our ties with them to provide long term support”.

Preface: I made an unwieldy grouped together visualization, I will write my intros & outros for the bottom two graphs.

1 . (I will revise this to be designed like the top viz)

Intro:

In the graph below, we see that hospitalization rates of Black Nebraskans, represented in the teal bar, sit at some of the lowest rates per capita (will be evident revised) of any racial demographic in the state, xx value which I will calculate.

2.

Intro:

In the graph below, Black Nebraskan Covid-19 cases are represented by a teal line. Since August 9th, 2020, Black Nebraskans have had the highest Covid case incidences of any racial minority that the state tracks, though it should be noted that white and ethnic Hispanic case numbers far exceed that of the Black population. As of November 25th, 2020, there were 3,462 documented Black Nebraskan Covid cases.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the South Sudanese immigrant community of Nebraska have been hit hard, trapped in poor working conditions in an uncertain economy. According to data from The Atlantic’s Covid Tracking Project, Black or African American Nebraskans account for 6% of Covid-19 deaths, though they only make up 5% of Nebraska’s population. As of November 18^th, 2020, less than 1 in 10 Black or African American Nebraskans with Covid-19 sought hospitalization.

But what factors contribute to these troubling statistics?

Organizations like the Catholic Social Services of Nebraska, and the Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska help place South Sudanese immigrants in jobs throughout the state. According to Albert Maribaga, an elder in the community and employment specialist at the Catholic Social Services “it is hard to find jobs for South Sudanese immigrants, many do not come to America with formal educations and skills, and some cannot speak English”. As a result, South Sudanese community members often can only find work in meatpacking warehouses, nursing homes, and as housekeepers – all high-risk jobs in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prior to, and through the pandemic, the Trump administration has pursued an aggressive deregulation agenda, reducing safety standards for industrial and service workers. In 2017, the Trump administration halted electronic reporting of workplace injury and illness reports by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In June 2018, Trump’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services halved fines for nursing homes that violated safe working condition practices. Although the federal government was pressured to require greater transparency from nursing homes regarding Covid-19 outbreaks in May 2020, nursing homes are not required to inform staff members about case rates in their facilities.

(should I put an interactive timeline here?)

But it is the conditions in meatpacking warehouses, such as the Smithfield Foods warehouse in Crete, Nebraska that have been the source of countless Covid-19 cases, and deaths. In February 2018, the Trump administration revised inspection standards for the Federal Food Safety and Inspection Service, reducing oversight of safety measures in meatpacking warehouses with the intent to increase food production. A recent federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union highlights the bleak working conditions of Nebraskan meatpacking plants, and how management’s unwillingness to adjust these conditions have created a breeding ground for infection. According to the ACLU, meatpacking workers “stand shoulder to shoulder for hours at a time on the processing lines, and they sit crowded together in a small windowless cafeteria where they cannot wear masks while eating”. “It’s a terrible cycle” said Maribaga, “young men go to work, get sick and don’t know it, and come home and infect their families”. To make matters worse, “if workers don’t get Covid in the factory, they get it while carpooling to and from the factory” said Christa Yoakum, Senior Welcoming Coordinator for Nebraska Appleseed’s Immigrants & Communities Program.

According to the Center for Disease Control, approximately 1 in 3 Black, non-Hispanic Nebraskans between the ages of 18-64 live without healthcare coverage. South Sudanese meatpacking workers have relied on their company healthcare plans to protect them and their families during the pandemic, all too often these healthcare plans are insufficient. “Infected workers are forced to stay at home without pay” says Maribaga “even if they want to seek care, they often cannot afford it because their budgets are so tight, or they haven’t worked long enough for their healthcare deductibles to kick in”. An unnamed source raised another issue with meatpacking healthcare; “sometimes the healthcare plans that these meatpacking workers receive are not accepted by local hospitals, and in-network hospitals are too inconvenient to get to”. According to Christa Yoakum, “even if workers had adequate healthcare, most Nebraskan hospitals are stretched thin and can longer provide acute care – this affects all Nebraskans regardless of race”.

The Nebraskan South Sudanese community faces socioeconomic factors, outside of poor working conditions, that contribute to the spread and fatalities of Covid-19. “Folks are scared to seek treatment because some are undocumented” says Yoakum “they have no social security numbers, so they couldn’t get treatment in most facilities even if they wanted to”.  Christa Yoakum points out “often times both parents in a household get infected, because both work in the same facility. These households don’t have childcare resources adding extra stress to families while their breadwinners are sick on unpaid leave”. According to Cezar Garcia “often times meatpacking workers aren’t just providing for their immediate family, they support their extended family too” adding pressure for workers to continue working even if they are Covid positive. It is common in Nebraskan South Sudanese communities for older members to live with their families, because they cannot afford housing in assisted living centers. While younger family members with more robust immune systems can fight off the symptoms of Covid-19, elders perish. At the time of our interview, Albert Maribaga knew of five elders who had passed away that week.

Some Nebraskan institutions are developing programs to help their immigrant communities, centered around inclusion, employment, and awareness. For instance, in South Sioux City, newscasters have been broadcasting public service announcements about Covid-19 in the different languages of Nebraska’s immigrant communities. “These awareness initiatives are so important” says Cezar Garcia, a Community Organizer for Nebraska Appleseed’s Immigrants & Communities Program, “I have heard stories about people who don’t know when or how to wear their masks, and they’ve been relying on the news to get that information”. Food banks across Nebraska have adjusted their models for food delivery, opting to subsidize restaurants and grocery stores that serve foods from immigrant’s home countries. According to Christa Yoakum, an anonymous donor has financed an angel fund to help pay for the healthcare of Covid infected undocumented workers. The Worldwide Education Services have doubled down on their existing proposals to Nebraska’s state senate; lobbying for the certification of immigrant practitioners who held medical licenses in their home countries to be certified registered nurses and vaccine administrants.

The road to proper support for South Sudanese immigrants in Nebraska is long, but the Covid-19 pandemic has brought them unprecedented connection to non-for-profits. “Nebraska is a big state, we have relied on volunteers and word of mouth to build connections to immigrant communities” says Yoakum “now, we have direct communication with community members, and we will strengthen and deepen our ties with them to provide long term support”.

Throughout the Spring of 2020, journalists in Nebraska called for the release of Covid-19 case and death data by race and ethnicity. The Nebraska state government acquiesced in late June, reflected in the stark dip in the “unknown” race and ethnicity case incidences around that time. Presently, nearly one in three Covid-19 cases in Nebraska are registered under the category of “unknown” race and ethnicity. “Unknown” race and ethnicity case rates have the highest rate of increase, begging the question; who make up Nebraska’s infected “unknown” population, and why do they remain unknown?

I have been in contact with Alison Keyser-Metobo, Epidemiology Surveillance Coordinator for the State of Nebraska. In our initial conversation, Alison confirmed that Nebraska collects more granular data about who comprises the unknown category than is displayed in its Covid reporting dashboard. In fact, Nebraska was mandated to collect data on citizens who self-reported as multi-race, as this is a federal standard set by the United States Census, and she understands this demographic to be reported as part of their “unknown” category. That being said, multi-race citizens only make up 2.7% of Nebraska’s population according to the United States Census. Should multi-race citizens of Nebraska account for the majority of the “unknown” population, my article would reveal a substantial racial/ethnic disparity in Covid-19 infections. For reference, the Covid Tracking project has identified a racial/ethnic disparity among Black or African American Nebraskans, and “unknown” cases in Nebraska outnumber Black or African American cases by a factor of 11.

Alison has not inspected Nebraska’s “unknown” demographic breakdown but has agreed to give me access to that data as she is similarly interested in my findings and analysis. Alison has also offered to provide me county-level breakdowns of Covid-19 cases by race and ethnicity but must first confirm that the data could not be used to identify Nebraska citizens, as its population is so low. I intend to confer with members of the Douglas County Board of Health, who recently declared racism a public health crisis in Nebraska, to discuss their analyses of health discrimination in the state. I will ask them why they believe multi-race citizens are being reported as “unknown”, and if they would provide additional data to aid in socioeconomic insights.

Initially, I was curious to see if Nebraska’s prison population was counted under the “unknown” race and ethnicity case population. However, despite a worrisome spike in Nebraskan prison guard infections, Nebraska’s prisons have retained a relatively low infection rate in its prison population.

California: Who Do You Call “Other”?

California has the highest count of “Other” Covid cases in the country. It is not immediately clear why California’s unknown rates are so high – I would like to investigate how California defines its “Other” category compared to other states with high counts of “Other” cases. Additionally, I would like to represent each Californian county’s case breakdown by race, to see if a specific county or region’s collection methods or policies are accountable for California’s “Other” case rate. Concurrently, I would like to investigate which communities are not being properly reported by being reported as “Other” and would try to collect and visualize as much data on that topic as possible.

I could envision this piece sitting at approximately 1500 words.

Potential Sources:

1. State-level health data taxonomy policymakers
2. County-level health data reporting agencies
3. ACLU California
4. California Department of Public Health
5. APM Research Lab

Nebraska: Hospital Accessibility and Racial Discrimination during Covid

My second visualization presents current Covid Tracking Project data with data from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor System (deleted from visualization in the process of trying to upload data). While per capita and county-level insights would better clarify this picture, I would want to investigate whether Covid case and death trends reflect existing trends in healthcare discrimination in Nebraska, particularly discrimination in affordability and access. It should be noted that the CDC’s data has the glaring omission of Asian, and Asian/Pacific Islander data for Nebraska.

Ideally, I would want to generate a Nebraska Voronoi diagram with plane points based on hospital concentration, displaying regional care affordability and Covid case and death rates by race population. This visualization might draw attention to the lapses of healthcare economic assistance programs like ACCESS Nebraska, whose key performance measures do not account for race and ethnicity despite documented disparity.

I could envision this piece sitting at approximately 1000 words.

Nebraska: Who are your Unknowns?

Throughout the Spring of 2020, journalists in Nebraska called for the release of Covid-19 case and death data by race and ethnicity. The Nebraska state government acquiesced in late June, reflected in the stark dip in the “unknown” race and ethnicity case and death incidences around that time. Despite the increased reporting of race and ethnicity data, “unknown” ethnicity and race cases and death rates continue to rise at a disconcerting rate, outpaced only by white and “non-Hispanic” race and ethnic groups. I would like to investigate which counties are contributing to the increasing count of “unknown” cases and deaths, as not all Nebraskan counties have this data easily accessible. I am particularly concerned that the “unknown” population rates may be attributable to Covid rates in Nebraska’s prisons. Nebraskan prisons are situated in counties that do not have easily accessible Covid race and ethnicity data, are experiencing intense spikes in Covid, and do not disclose race and ethnicity data in their Covid dashboard. To that end, I would try to gather data from Nebraska’s department of corrections and Nebraskan counties that do not publicly report Covid race and ethnicity data, and compare and visualize that data with our data.

I could envision this piece sitting at approximately 1500 words.

Potential Sources:

1. Nebraska Department of Corrections
2. County-level health data reporting agencies
3. Nebraska Office of Health Disparities and Health Equity
4. ACLU Nebraska
5. The Vera Institute

Going into this assignment, I was anxious. Despite our training, I felt unprepared for the experience of live group-data entry, so I spectated a core data entry shift the day before I volunteered. Even though I did not contribute to the session, the sense of community that permeates the Covid Tracking Project was apparent. Lighthearted introductory questions posed by the shift lead in the #data-entry Slack channel took my mind off the seriousness of the data this project collects, easing the tension I felt. I watched data entry veterans joke with one another, adding to the expansive collection of custom Slack reaction emojis. Hannah Hoffman reached out to me, and another shift spectator to let us know that we could ask her any questions throughout the shift. I did not have any questions at the time, but I found her assistance during my data entry shift incredibly helpful.

My data entry shift was not without its hiccups, but with the guidance of the double-checking crew and Hannah Hoffman I was afforded deeper insight into the efficacy of the tracking project’s checking processes. First, I was tagged in Slack by a double checker who reminded me to update the Local Time column for my first state (MD). Until I had been tagged by a double checker, I did not understand why in the #data-entry channel checkers conferred in state-specific posts, particularly when the channel’s Shift Bot provided a forum for general inquiry. I appreciated the opportunity to discuss my error within a state-specific post, because the feedback I received was easy to follow in Slack’s Thread sidebar. I should also note that my double checker was incredibly supportive, and she gave me positive affirmation when I confirmed my correction.

An interesting mistake that I made might be an opportunity to clarify the project’s data entry instructions. I was given feedback that, for a cell that required calculation, the expectation was that I enter the equation that made up the cell’s value. Instead, I had been using my computer’s calculator and writing in my calculated values into their cells. I can appreciate why the Covid Tracking Project follows these protocols however, it is not clear from the section of the data entry instructions that discusses “calculated” cells that this is the expectation. I would suggest in section 8 of the checker instructions, either edit sub-section d or add another sub-section, that makes clear that calculated values should show the values that make up the calculated value, not just to “type all data by hand”.