The COVID Tracking Project is (nearly) gone. Can we see clearly now?

One evening in early March of last year, Alexis C. Madrigal and Robinson Meyer, colleagues at The Atlantic, set out to answer a simple question: how many people had been tested for the coronavirus in the US so far? The answer, it turned out, was actually quite complicated: in the absence of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it was hard to tell whether low reported case rates to that point reflected low incidence or low testing. Madrigal and Meyer sent a form email to health officials in every state; they soon found out that the answer was the latter, and that the federal government did not have a handle on the numbers. As Emily Sohn reported for CJR, Jeff Hammerbacher—a data scientist who had been working to track the same information, and who knew Madrigal from college—saw their work and reached out. They teamed up, and soon, the COVID Tracking Project was born. It was meant, initially, as a short-term gap-filler. “Every day,” Erin Kissane, its managing editor, told Sohn in late March, “we hope the CDC will put us out of business.” But the days went by, and the CDC did not, leaving the Tracking Project’s collective of journalists and tech folk to serve, in their own words, as “a de facto source of pandemic data for the United States.” The Atlantic agreed to host the project; its team grew to include hundreds of volunteers, and the project’s founders solicited philanthropic donations to pay some of them. “It just got really complex,” Madrigal told... Continue reading at 'Columbia Journalism Review'

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-03-17 12:29:53 UTC ]
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Other Publishing stories related to: 'The COVID Tracking Project is (nearly) gone. Can we see clearly now?'


Congress Allocates Billions of Dollars to Libraries in COVID Relief Package

You may know about the stimulus checks, but the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 also includes billions of dollars to support libraries. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2021-03-11 12:33:15 UTC ]
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'Arms' Race: Where We Stand One Year into the Covid-19 Crisis

As we approach the one year anniversary of the first U.S. Covid-19 lockdowns, PW spoke with Columbia University epidemiologist Jeffrey Shaman, who offered a frank assessment of where we stand in our battle against Covid-19. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-03-04 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Libraries Offering Services to Seniors During COVID-19 Pandemic

Taking a look at libraries offering services to seniors during the pandemic, with programs for memory care, vaccine roll-out, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2021-03-03 11:33:00 UTC ]
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Restructuring, Covid-19 Leads to Huge HMH Loss

Restructuring charges and the global pandemic took a toll on Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2020, as the company reported a 25.8% decline in revenue in the year and a net loss of $480 million, compared to a loss of $213.8 million in 2019. HMH's trade division, which is for sale, had a 6% sales gain. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-02-25 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Translating Fang Fang’s Wuhan Diary amid the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Conversation with Michael Berry, by King Yu

Interviews   Michael Berry is a professor of Asian languages and cultures and director of the Center for Chinese Studies at UCLA. He has published extensive works on addressing the richness and diversity of Chinese art and culture in sinophone... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2021-02-24 15:28:04 UTC ]
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Transworld lands 'visionary' Portas on post-Covid business

Transworld Publishers has acquired Rebuild: How to do Business Better by retail guru Mary Portas, a "visionary toolkit for how to weather the post-pandemic storm in business". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-18 15:35:50 UTC ]
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Covid diaries: Caoimhe Fox

Pre-Covid, I held the impression that working from home was a luxury of the suburban homeowner. Mature folk who start the day with freshly squeezed juice followed by a relaxing morning at the helm of a mahogany desk. When I occasionally worked from home, I used to feel like an imposter and the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-18 05:55:22 UTC ]
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‘Remarkable Adaptability’: Children’s Publishing in the Time of Covid

With 2021 well underway, Publishers Weekly spoke with the heads of several children’s publishing divisions to see how the industry weathered the storm of last year, and to discuss what comes next in the midst of persistent uncertainty. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-02-12 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Spare Zoom Project racks up 300 introductions within three months

The Spare Zoom Project, the online adaptation of The Spare Room Project supporting book trade interns and job applicants from outside London, has made 320 introductions between jobseekers and publishing trade professionals since it launched in mid-November. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-09 16:04:45 UTC ]
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Allen Lane signs Covid-19 account from Pulitzer winner Wright

Allen Lane has signed an "all-encompassing" account of the Covid-19 crisis from Pulitzer Prize-winner Lawrence Wright. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-08 21:21:35 UTC ]
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Scribe to publish analysis of Sweden's Covid-19 strategy

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[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-08 20:21:32 UTC ]
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'Price gouging from Covid': student ebooks costing up to 500% more than in print

Call for inquiry into academic publishers as locked-down students unable to access study material onlineCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageLibrarians at UK universities say students’ reading lists for this term are being torn up because of publishers’ “eye-watering”... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-01-29 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Evaristo to mentor emerging writers of colour in Sky Arts project

Bernardine Evaristo is collaborating with the Royal Society of Literature to create a mentoring award scheme for emerging authors of colour as part of a £300,000 Sky Arts project. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-28 18:33:57 UTC ]
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If you love books and also love, you can rent this bookstore for a COVID-friendly date night.

Given that we’re all justifiably afraid about the breath of others right now, it’s a weird time to be dating. While the warmer months at least offered the possibility of outdoor meetings, now it’s winter and, like all other things, dating has become an exercise in futility and endless Zoom... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-28 15:42:07 UTC ]
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Today in cool internet passion projects: the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.

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[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-27 16:14:09 UTC ]
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Tracking the Vocabulary of Sci-Fi, from Aerocar to Zero-Gravity

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[ The New York Times | 2021-01-26 12:01:06 UTC ]
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Egmont launches Paper Beach reading project

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[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-26 04:03:45 UTC ]
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How Covid-19 Will Change Publishing

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-01-22 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Umberto Eco tracking down a book in his massive library is your new competence porn.

The late Umberto Eco—professor, novelist, children’s book author—was a man of many talents. One of which, as seen in a video clip posted on Twitter by writer Ted Gioia, was quickly finding books in his famously massive personal library. I once got to meet Umberto Eco—who was very memorable. But... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-21 20:36:32 UTC ]
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Kate Garraway's Covid memoir to Transworld

Transworld is publishing the "raw and emotional" story of broadcaster Kate Garraway, in which she writes about her husband Derek Draper’s long fight against Covid-19 and the devastating impact it continues to have on him and on their family. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-19 14:42:53 UTC ]
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