Visualizing Lockdown Policies

The pandemic has been one of many events in recent years suffering from ongoing mis- and disinformation. The underlying drivers of these infodemics (informational epidemics) are complex and the solutions are not straightforward either. Making data more accessible and interpretable may be one way which can help ameliorate the confusion, frustration, and apathy that come with attempting to get the truth from the cacophony of information in our daily lives.

The app below (also found here) shows Johns Hopkins’ COVID case data overlaid on Oxford’s Government Response data to see both how nations responded to the pandemic and the level of precautions they took throughout it.

It was quite difficult getting the UI to a place that is not overwhelming, both visually and informationally, yet still clear and coherent. Hopefully this was achieved by storing the policy selection options in dropdowns and illustrating the severity (and potential severity) using the filled in and outlined circles.