The true toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on many communities of color is worse than previously known. This feature –a collaboration between MuckRock, USA TODAY, and local newsrooms in three states – explores this trend using data from the CDC and Boston University researchers.
Since early 2020, New York City has become a pioneer of wastewater surveillance, a method of tracking diseases in sewage that gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic. But city agencies are not being transparent about what they’re finding in our waste or how the data is used to inform public health decisions, according to a monthslong reporting collaboration between Gothamist and MuckRock.
As the CDC released a study of thousands of Long COVID deaths, the MuckRock team conducted an original analysis of death records to identify some of these cases and provide broader context for the CDC’s report.
In a new study, Columbia University researchers have identified coronavirus mutations in New York City wastewater that seem to appear when severe disease rates begin to rise. This piece, a collaboration between Gothamist and the Documenting COVID-19 project, explains the study’s implications.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Betsy Ladyzhets 