Betsy Ladyzhets

science, health, & data journalist

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Best

The National Fight Against COVID-19 Isn’t Ready To Go To The Sewers

Health departments can’t just flick a switch — or gaze into the bottom of a toilet bowl — and suddenly get comprehensive COVID-19 trends from wastewater. This piece, a collaboration between the Documenting COVID-19 project and FiveThirtyEight, explains the challenges researchers and health officials are facing.

Best, Data journalism, Documenting COVID-19, science writing

The U.S. Still Doesn’t Know How To Track A Pandemic

This retrospective piece walks through the metrics that the U.S. has attempted to use for tracking COVID-19 over the last two years, and how the country’s fractured public health system doomed each one.

Best, Data journalism, science writing

Idaho COVID-19 surge drove patient transfers, strained out-of-state hospitals, new data shows

The Delta wave in Idaho overwhelmed hospitals in the state and led to record patient transfers. This story, a collaboration between the Idaho Capital Sun and Documenting COVID-19, discusses the surge as a case study of the U.S.’s decentralized hospital system.

Best, Data journalism, Documenting COVID-19, science writing

Here’s why Utah’s COVID-19 testing in schools went from national model to abandoned failure

A K-12 COVID-19 testing program originally pioneered in Utah failed to prevent transmission in schools during the fall 2021 semester, after it was neutered by the state legislature. This story was a collaboration between the Salt Lake Tribune and Documenting COVID-19.

Best, Data journalism, Documenting COVID-19, science writing

Why You Can’t See The Most Important Omicron Hot Spots In The U.S. On A Map

As Omicron surges everywhere in the U.S. at once, it’s hard to identify the most important hot spots: in other words, those among the people most vulnerable to severe disease and most capable of shutting down society.

Best, Data journalism, science writing

How schools that kept Covid cases low are battling new variants

School districts that successfully brought students back while keeping COVID-19 cases low in the 2020-2021 school year faced a new set of challenges in fall 2021, ranging from tricky quarantine policies to staff burnout.

Best, Data journalism, science writing

Missouri allocated $11M for vaccine gift cards. Most health departments said no thanks

Missouri officials lobbied the CDC for additional funding to distribute gift cards to residents who got vaccinated, but only 20 out of 115 eligible local health departments opted into the program. This project was a collaboration between the Missouri Independent and Documenting COVID-19.

Best, Data journalism, Documenting COVID-19, science writing

The U.S. Is Relying On Other Countries’ Data To Make Its Booster Shot Decisions

If the U.S. doesn’t comprehensively track its own data, it has to rely on other countries to tell it how to keep Americans safe. Meanwhile, without clear evidence, many Americans have been confused about whether they need a booster shot.

Best, Data journalism, science writing

‘Soooo frustrating:’ Infighting, bad predictions hindered Missouri response to Delta

An investigation, based on hundreds of public records, revealed how miscommunication and a lack of preparedness hurt Southwest Missouri’s ability to address the Delta surge in summer 2021. This project was a collaboration between the Missouri Independent and Documenting COVID-19.

Best, Data journalism, Documenting COVID-19, science writing

COVID-19 testing in schools works. So why aren’t more doing it?

This Science News feature explores major hurdles to routine COVID-19 testing programs in K-12 schools, which include: a lack of clear guidance on how testing programs should work, obtaining tests, gaining consent from parents and communicating the value of testing to families and staff in increasingly polarized environments.

Best, science writing

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