As the pandemic ebbs, an influential COVID tracker shuts down

As the pandemic ebbs¹, an influential² COVID tracker shuts down

Transcript³

In another sign of the changing state of the pandemic, an invaluable⁴ source of information about the virus over the last three years is shutting down, NPR has learned.

The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center plans to cease operations March 10, officials told NPR.

"It's bittersweet," says Lauren Gardner, an engineering professor who launched the project with one of her students on March 3, 2020. "But it's an appropriate time to move on."When the pandemic erupted, no one knew much of anything about the virus and how to respond. Was it safe to go grocery shopping? How easily could someone get infected on a bus or train? Could runners get sick just by passing another jogger in the park?

"As everyone can remember, there was very little information, particularly at the beginning of the pandemic," says Beth Blauer, an associate vice⁵ provost at Johns Hopkins who has helped run the center.

"And when we started to see the cases move out of China and in through Europe and headed toward our shores, we knew that there were going to be a series of public policy decisions that would have to be made," Blauer says.

Those decisions included where to impose dramatic but crucial public health measures. Should mayors close schools? Should governors mandate⁶ masks? Should CEOs shut down factories? Should heads of state seal borders?

But there was no good data available to make those decisions. Neither the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the World Health Organization were providing enough useful numbers in real time. So journalists and academic researchers at places like Johns Hopkins jumped in to fill the void.

NPR launched its own tracker in March, 2020, drawing data from Johns Hopkins. It was viewed over 52 million times over the last three years as readers sought to stay updated on COVID metrics. On Feb. 1, NPR ceased updating the page, recognizing that Americans can find the information they need on the CDC's COVID website. This was not the case early in the pandemic.

"I know CDC has the ability to do this and has done it numerous occasions in the past," says Dr. Ali Khan, a former CDC official who is now dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. "So it was unusual that at the beginning of this COVID pandemic that they did not collect this data and put it out in a timely manor⁷. Extremely unusual and very surprising."Johns Hopkins "essentially⁸ filled the vacuum," Khan says, "That was invaluable to understand what was going on."Meet The Team Behind The Coronavirus Tracker Watched By MillionsTHE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

Meet The Team Behind The Coronavirus Tracker Watched By MillionsAfter Johns Hopkins launched the project, the website quickly became crucial for deciding everything from where drug companies should test vaccines⁹ to where Hollywood should film movies. Even the White House and the British prime minister were relying on Hopkins data.

Gardner recalls many conversations "with people that were just out about doing their job — traveling in Japan, here and there — who would tell me the dashboard was the driving force in decision-making for them ... about quitting their job and then coming home so that they wouldn't get stuck."The site's maps of the world and individual countries became an iconic way of tracking the virus's inexorable spread.

"I would refresh my computer screen over and over again over the course of the work day looking to see what the latest numbers were," says Dr. Celine Gounder from the Kaiser Family Foundation, who was working as an infectious disease specialist at the Bellevue Hospital in New York when the pandemic began.

"It was really startling to see even over the course of the day how the numbers were evolving. I think my colleagues thought I was a little obsessive," Gounder says. "But it was also watching history unfold in real time on your screen."The site, which Blauer and Gardner note was created and run largely by women, cost $13 million and eventually drew more than 2.5 billion views, Blauer says.

"It is a staggering amount of traffic," she says. "These are numbers I don't think I'll ever see again in my professional career."But now that the threat of the pandemic is receding¹⁰, states are reporting data less frequently and the CDC has ramped¹¹ up the agency's data reporting, the university decided¹² it was time to shut it down.

"There's definitely a bitter sweetness about the end," Blauer says. "But we are at an inflection point."Both Blauer and Gardner say they hope the CDC and the public health system will continue to invest in data collection so the nation will be better prepared in the future. But they're prepared to step back in if necessary.

"There will be another pandemic," Gardner says. "And, so we'll have to see."

1 ebbs   

退潮( ebb的名词复数 )； 落潮； 衰退

参考例句：

• When the tide ebbs it's a rock pool inhabited by crustaceans. 退潮时，它便成为甲壳动物居住的岩石区潮水潭。
• The new Russia steadily ebbs away drive out of Moscow. 驶离莫斯科愈来愈远以后，俄罗斯崭新的景象也逐渐消失。

2 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 invaluable   

adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的

参考例句：

• A computer would have been invaluable for this job.一台计算机对这个工作的作用会是无法估计的。
• This information was invaluable to him.这个消息对他来说是非常宝贵的。

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

6 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

7 manor   

n.庄园，领地

参考例句：

• The builder of the manor house is a direct ancestor of the present owner.建造这幢庄园的人就是它现在主人的一个直系祖先。
• I am not lord of the manor,but its lady.我并非此地的领主，而是这儿的女主人。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

10 receding   

v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题

参考例句：

• Desperately he struck out after the receding lights of the yacht. 游艇的灯光渐去渐远，他拼命划水追赶。 来自辞典例句
• Sounds produced by vehicles receding from us seem lower-pitched than usual. 渐渐远离我们的运载工具发出的声似乎比平常的音调低。 来自辞典例句

11 ramped   

土堤斜坡( ramp的过去式和过去分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯

参考例句：

• With the arrival of George Lucas, the pace has ramped up. 随着乔治·卢卡斯的到来，速度大大加快。
• They also sold corporate bonds as the global financial crisis ramped up. 在全球金融危机加剧之际，他们还抛售了公司债券。

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。