INTRO¶
Background:
As the COVID 19 pandemic is taking shape, a surplus of data, statistics, and research has emerged. However, the only graphs and statistics I came into contact with were those available on the media and news sources I frequented. Without knowing any better, I often accepted whichever analyses were spun as objective facts. However, at some point I had been bombarded with so much data, so many graphs, so many narratives, that COVID 19 became too noisy to have a clear picture of what was going on. This pushed me to ignore the stream of information all together, and I think many other people are starting to feel the same way.
Before I began this project, I had limited experience analyzing data. My internship gave me the tools to look at the available data myself, manipulate it according to how I saw fit, and make predictions and estimates based on my own research.
Questions I sought to answer:
1.) What are the true number of infections in the USA?
2.) Survey most populated counties: what are the number of daily infections for
a. LA
b. Cook
c. NYC
d. Maricopa
e. Miami-Dade
f. My home county (Lane County)
3.) Where are “we” flattening the curve?