This visualization was completed by Chandler Collins as part of a final project for SARC 5400 taught by Eric Field at the University of Virginia. The guiding question for this project was "how might I visualize the scale and impact of pandemics in a more human way?" I sought to avoid using the omnipresent charts and line graphs that we have often seen with COVID-19 data and instead visualize the scale of pandemics using trees, something that feels more tangible and relatable. While this project proposes policy solutions, I hope that this visualization provides historical perspective on COVID-19 as well as showing that countries should be more willing to learn from each other and from historical precedent.
Comparative pandemic data sourced from Devakumar Kp on Kaggle. COVID-19 country-level data from Johns Hopkins University and compiled for analysis by Sudalai Rajkumar. Forest visualization created using D3.js and COVID tree created using Tableau and Adobe Illustrator.