Ten Considerations Before You Create Another Chart About COVID-19

Teams are making ready-to-use COVID-19 datasets easily accessible for the wider data visualization and analysis community. Johns Hopkins posts frequently updated data on their github page, and Tableau has created a COVID-19 Resource Hub with the same data reshaped for use in Tableau.

These public assets are immensely helpful for public health professionals and authorities responding to the epidemic. They make data from multiple sources easy to use, which can enable quick development of visualizations of local case numbers and impact.

At the same time, the stakes are high around how we communicate about this epidemic to the wider public. Visualizations are powerful for communicating information, but can also mislead, misinform, and — in the worst cases — incite panic. We are in the middle of complete information overload, with hourly case updates and endless streams of information.