Visualizing Coronavirus Impact: An Interview With Reuters Graphics
Ten years ago when embarking on my global health career, epidemiology terms like epidemic curve and incubation period felt like abstract concepts that I needed to understand in the immediate term to solve potato salad whodunits — a common public health student conundrum. Currently, as a fully-fledged public health professional during COVID-19, I receive frequent texts from non-public health friends asking for my “hot take” on these terms. An unexpected trajectory in my friendships prompted by the rapid evolution of a global pandemic.
As understanding of the novel coronavirus and its impact builds, there have already been countless efforts to visualize new data. While many COVID-19 data visualizations exist, in my opinion few are as evocative and memorable as those produced by the Reuters Graphics team. The team has been at the forefront of visualizing COVID-19 since January 2020 and has produced numerous works capturing how the pandemic has dramatically changed lives globally. Simon Scarr (Reuters Graphics) kindly took time to share some insight on the team’s data visualization process.
