What is the source of your data?
Unlike Governor Whitmer (D-Michigan), I gladly share the source of my data: the State of Michigan's Coronavirus page. On that page, there are links to many spreadsheets. The three that I use are called Cases by County by Date (later renamed to Cases and Deaths by County by Date of Onset of Symptoms and Date of Death), Diagnostic Tests by Result and County and Cases by Demographics Statewide. All of these spreadsheets are updated six days a week.
That must be alot of work, going through 200+ days (and growing) worth of each data'for each county.
Not at all. It takes me less than 30 minutes each day to update the site with the latest data. The process involves copying and pasting the spreadsheet into a series of password protected pages on this site. Once I click Submit, an automation script takes over and updates the database. A majority of the 30 minutes I spend each day updating this site is waiting for the various import processes to do their thing.
Why do the daily numbers not match what the 6 o'clock news reports?
When the news reports "new cases", they are using the mathematical difference in the state's daily reports which are issued at 3pm each day. My daily total will match for the most recent day I have on file. However, the State of Michigan backdates the onset dates for some case as the spreadsheets use the date a person first experienced symptoms. In late July 2020, I added a section that compares what the media reported for new cases on a given day to what the most recent spreadsheet has for that date.
Are you a health care or IT professional?
Neither. While I do have a degree in Information Systems from Grand Valley State University, I am not actively working in the field. I used to work in website design but was laid off in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Unable to find another job in the Information Technology Field, I returned to my "get me through college" job of retail- where I remained for over a decade. I now work in a factory. Computers now are like there were in my childhood-a hobby.
Can I use your maps/graphs?
Yes but please do not remove the watermark text containing this site's web address.
How do the graphs work?
Custom written PHP scripts read data from a MySQL database and then perform various mathematical operations which are then used by PHP's image creation functions to determine where lines need to be drawn.
Why do the total demographic numbers not match the general totals?
For unknown reasons, the State of Michigan suppresses numbers for certain combinations of demographics.