25Apr / 2024

Rise in prison death rates during the pandemic

The Marshall Project highlights research on excess mortality in U.S. prisons:

The slowdown in admissions meant that prison systems reduced the number of younger people exposed to COVID, while the older people already inside were left there. That’s because incarcerated people are generally older than those likely to be sent to prison.

By the end of 2020, Bureau of Justice Statistics data shows the number of people in state prisons under 55 fell by 17%, while the 55 and older population was down by 6%.

Prison deaths spiked almost everywhere across the country, varying in magnitude from state to state.

Check out the full paper.

Tags: Marshall Project, mortality, pandemic

Permalink

24Mar / 2023

Deforestation and increased risk of outbreaks

For ProPublica, Al Shaw, Irena Hwang, and Caroline Chen explain the increased risk of spreading disease when there are fewer trees and physical barriers in between people:

The implications of such a drastic increase in mixing zone area over a relatively small increase in deforestation are serious. In 2018, a team led by Christina Faust, a researcher at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, developed a peer-reviewed model that directly links changes in forest cover to the potential for spillover events. To understand how the potential for spillover had changed since the 2013 outbreak, we applied data from real-world satellite images to this theoretical model.

The dot plot and map combo at the end is a nice touch.

Tags: deforestation, pandemic, ProPublica

Permalink

30Mar / 2022

Most people think their employers don’t care about their well-being

Based on polls by Gallup, almost half of U.S. employees thought their employers cared about their well-being early on in the pandemic. That sentiment did not last:

Fewer than one in four U.S. employees feel strongly that their organization cares about their wellbeing — the lowest percentage in nearly a decade.

This finding has significant implications, as work and life have never been more blended and employee wellbeing matters more than ever– to employees and the resiliency of organizations. The discovery is based on a random sample of 15,001 full and part-time U.S. employees who were surveyed in February 2022.

This seems not good? Or maybe it’s just life’s terrible way of saying it’s healing.

Tags: Gallup, pandemic, well-being, work

Permalink

14Mar / 2022

Percentage breakdowns of pandemic life

To broadly show how people have lived in the U.S. during these past two years, The Washington Post shows percentages for various questions, such as “Have you had long covid?” and “Did you work from home?” But instead of using something like pie charts, they used people icons in illustrated unit charts.

In the above, each person represents a percentage point. There’s also a multiple-choice element to the piece, which helps readers relate personally, but I think it’s mostly there as a way to reveal the full answer breakdowns.

Projects like this one always remind me of World of 100.

Tags: coronavirus, pandemic, Washington Post

Permalink

26Apr / 2021

Where people moved during the pandemic

In another look at migration through the lens of USPS change of address data, Bloomberg CityLab shows where people moved during the pandemic, focusing on movement in and out of metro areas. With the exception of San Francisco and New York, most areas didn’t see much movement distance-wise:

Even in the biggest metro areas, most people didn’t go very far. In the country’s 50 most populous cities, 84% of the moves were to somewhere within the perimeter of the central metro area, down just slightly from pre-pandemic levels. Many of the most local moves were likely related to the economic downturn: A February Pew Research Center survey of those who moved during the pandemic found that the most common reason people cited was financial distress including job loss.

See also similar conclusions by The New York Times and Financial Times.

While there wasn’t the mass exodus that some imagined, the pandemic did seem to speed up some trends. So as we wait for the 2020 Census count, which comes out out this afternoon, it’ll be interesting to see if the rate of change continues in the coming years.

Tags: Bloomberg, cities, migration, pandemic, USPS

Permalink

20Apr / 2021

Pandemic migrations

With the restrictions of the pandemic, you might expect an unusually big wave of people leaving cities for more open space. Using USPS’s change of address data, Jed Kolko, Emily Badger and Quoctrung Bui, for NYT’s The Upshot, show that this was not quite the case.

This surprised me, because I live in a suburban area that saw a flux of home buyers, which made prices approach ridiculous ranges. I wonder what in- and out-migration look like separately, on relative and absolute scales.

Tags: coronavirus, migration, pandemic, Upshot

Permalink

15Apr / 2021

Stopping a pandemic before it starts

For Politico, Beatrice Jin provides an illustrated guide on stopping a pandemic before it starts. Some scientists suggest going to the source, which often is from interacting with animals, and as you’d expect, cutting off the livelihood of millions around the world would be a complex process.

Tags: Beatrice Jin, illustration, pandemic, Politico

Permalink

15Mar / 2021

Pandemic timeline as animated dot density map

As a lead-in and backdrop to a timeline of the past year by The Washington Post, an animated dot density map represents Covid-19 deaths. “Every point of light is a life lost to coronavirus.”

Tags: animation, coronavirus, pandemic, timeline, Washington Post

Permalink

05Feb / 2021

Pandemic Graphics Archive

The Pandemic Graphics Archive is a work-in-progress collection of floor signs and posters from our current days of distance and mask-wearing. [via swissmiss]

Tags: coronavirus, illustration, pandemic

Permalink

29Jul / 2020

Lab Culture Ep. 22: Life as a public health lab scientist testing for COVID-19

Matt Sinn and Jessica Bauer pose with the Missouri state flag

Jessica Bauer and Matt Sinn are scientists at the Missouri State Public Health Laboratory. On this episode, they shared their experiences performing COVID-19 testing, working long hours seven days a week, supporting their staff while trying not to burnout themselves. As they describe in this conversation, the experience has been nothing they ever could have expected.

Jessica Bauer, molecular unit chief
Matthew Sinn, molecular laboratory manager

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts:

Links:

Missouri State Public Health Laboratory
APHL: Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic
COVID-19 posts on APHLblog.org

The post Lab Culture Ep. 22: Life as a public health lab scientist testing for COVID-19 appeared first on APHL Lab Blog.

Permalink

← Older posts

Reader

Category Archives: pandemic

Rise in prison death rates during the pandemic

Deforestation and increased risk of outbreaks

Most people think their employers don’t care about their well-being

Percentage breakdowns of pandemic life

Where people moved during the pandemic

Pandemic migrations

Stopping a pandemic before it starts

Pandemic timeline as animated dot density map

Pandemic Graphics Archive

Lab Culture Ep. 22: Life as a public health lab scientist testing for COVID-19

Meta