In just 15 days the total number of #COVID19 cases in Georgia is up 49%, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at the state’s data visualization map of cases. The first map is July 2. The second is today. Do you see a 50% case increase? Can you spot how they’re hiding it? 1/

Kemp’s health department keeps changing the numbers on the map’s color legend to keep counties from getting darker blue or red. 2,961 cases was Red on July 2. Now a county needs 3,769 cases to show red. The result: an infographic that hides data instead of showing it. 2/

Nearly every day this month Kemp’s health dept has altered the numbers assigned to each color without ever saying so. I take screenshots. Georgia DPH is violating data visualization best practices in a way that’s hiding severity of the outbreak. 3/

If any journalists want my screenshots, DM me. The metadata will show you the day I took them. 4:

Also, when you do math, show your work. 5/

Malice or incompetence, the map’s purpose is written above it and the map fails utterly in achieving its purpose. 8/

For those who want to keep track themselves, here’s the website. https://dph.georgia.gov/covid-19-daily-status-report 6/

Very helpful and informative reply from @callin_bull, who calls it “a truly remarkable example of misleading data visualization” and suggests it’s more likely incompetence than malice. 7/ https://twitter.com/callin_bull/status/1284269269815980033?s=21

I appreciate very much the data viz pros who’ve explained how a data viz can get that bad without malice. i rt’d a few. 10/