Angel Gurría, the Secretary General of the OECD, posted this tweet earlier today.
All data in this chart – except for Spain – is based on our database here at @OurWorldInData.
For 2 reasons this tweet led to some confusion on social media and the press:
All data in this chart – except for Spain – is based on our database here at @OurWorldInData.
For 2 reasons this tweet led to some confusion on social media and the press:
The Secretary General’s tweet was not clearly worded – when he said “we have updated our data” he meant the OECD took the numbers published by us and added one data point. The one for Spain.
[While his tweet was not clear, the sources in the footer of the OECD chart are clear.]
[While his tweet was not clear, the sources in the footer of the OECD chart are clear.]
The data point for Spain that the OECD added isn’t comparable with the data for other countries.
We aim to not to include antibody tests, but the OECD summed up PCR and antibody tests for Spain.
[1,035,522 PCR tests + 310,038 antibody tests according to their source.]
We aim to not to include antibody tests, but the OECD summed up PCR and antibody tests for Spain.
[1,035,522 PCR tests + 310,038 antibody tests according to their source.]
The 2nd confusion came from the fact that El País then made the mistake to believe that Edouard from our team is working for the OECD.
They referred to him as ‘uno de los expertos que elaboran los informes de la OCDE’.
El País now corrected it, but others quoted their mistake.
They referred to him as ‘uno de los expertos que elaboran los informes de la OCDE’.
El País now corrected it, but others quoted their mistake.
If you want to understand and download our data on testing you find our fully documented database here: ourworldindata.org/covid-testing
From that I hope it is clear that we make a huge effort to carefully explain what can and cannot be interpreted from the data country by country.
From that I hope it is clear that we make a huge effort to carefully explain what can and cannot be interpreted from the data country by country.
