GRAPH: College reports 11 positive COVID-19 tests, inconsistent dashboard numbers

By Andrew Brinker, Tomas Gonzalez and Charlie McKenna
September 17, 2020

Emerson’s cumulative positive COVID-19 test results have risen steadily each week, as seen in the graph above.

Each point on the graph represents the number of cumulative positive results the college reported at the end of each respective week. The lines in between the data points represent the number of positive tests reported each week.

While the college opted to provide the community with daily updates starting Sept. 8, those updates have come sporadically and appear two to three days after the tests are administered. The data included in the graph is the most complete picture of Emerson’s positive testing numbers available to The Beacon at the time of publication.

The college’s testing dashboard, which is intended to collect and display community testing data, has often temporarily displayed inaccurate or incomplete data. After testing updates are posted, the data listed on the tracker will change to numbers different from what was listed hours before. Sometimes the changes reflect new data from the Broad Institute; other times, it fixes previously made glitches, mathematical inconsistencies, and reporting errors. This graph has data points to reflect those discrepancies.

Note: Sept. 17, 2020: A previous version of this story lacked information regarding the blue and purple lines in the data visualization above. This story has been updated to account for what each line and datapoint represent.

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Andrew Brinker, Senior Investigative Reporter

Andrew Brinker graduated in 2022. He previously served as the paper's news editor, directing coverage of Emerson's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He's also worked as The Beacon's Deputy Express Editor, Senior SGA reporter, and Assistant Enterprise Editor. Brinker is a working freelance journalist. He dearly loves his cat Mittens, learning to cook, soup dumplings, and walking the city of Boston.

Tomas Gonzalez, Staff Writer/Photographer

Tomas Gonzalez was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, but has lived most of his life in San Jose, Costa Rica. He is a junior studying journalism at Emerson College and has spent the last five semesters on The Beacon. He previously served as The Beacon's Multimedia Managing Editor and as Deputy News Editor. He enjoys cooking and playing video games.

Charlie McKenna

Charlie McKenna graduated in 2022. He is from Los Angeles, CA and served as The Beacon's Editor-in-Chief during the Fall 2021 semester, overseeing all of the paper's print and digital content in addition to daily operations. He has contributed to The Beacon since the Fall 2019 semester and previously served as a Content Managing Editor, the Deputy Express Editor, and the SGA correspondent. McKenna's work has appeared in The Boston Globe and in his...

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Faithful Reader / Sep 17, 2020 at 7:56 am

Question: Where’s the “graph above”?


https://berkeleybeacon.com/graph-college-reports-11-positive-covid-19-tests-inconsistent-dashboard-numbers/#comment-2694
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  Dylan Rossiter / Sep 17, 2020 at 1:45 pm
  
  Hi, thank you for reading. A line graph should be populating in the story. If you continue to experience technical difficulties, please feel free to contact our Product Management team at [email protected]. Thanks!
  
  
  https://berkeleybeacon.com/graph-college-reports-11-positive-covid-19-tests-inconsistent-dashboard-numbers/#comment-2696