Robson Fletcher Profile picture
Data journalist with @CBCCalgary. No longer tweeting. Find me on the elephant site: @robsonfletcher@mas.to Direct link: https://t.co/BOW9lKxcqZ
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Apr 20, 2022 31 tweets 11 min read
Right now @edyong209 is speaking to the UBC School of Public Policy & Global Affairs about his approach to covering the COVID-19 pandemic.

I'm watching via the livestream & will do my best to livetweet.

This is interesting stuff to me, and hopefully to some of you too... His first point is that the pandemic is an "omni-crisis" and the regular, piecemeal approach to journalism doesn't work as well.

A smattering of stories, each about a small aspect of the crisis, can leave audiences more confused.

Stories explaining the bigger picture are key.
Sep 16, 2021 6 tweets 2 min read
A big difference with Alberta's 4th wave compared to its 3rd wave is the number of cases among people aged 80+, shown by the red line here

To understand what's going on, we need to break down this data a little more... 🧵 The recent surge in case rates among Albertans aged 80+ has not been evenly distributed, geographically.

The North, South and Central health zones have seen disproportionately high cases among this age range, while rates in the Calgary & Edmonton zones have been relatively low.
Sep 15, 2021 9 tweets 6 min read
Bleep blop this is Robson's bot with Alberta's latest COVID-19 data:

• 1659 new cases over the past 1 day(s). (This may vary from adjusted 'net' new cases. More on why here: cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…)
• 18421 active
• 877 in hospital w/218 in ICU
• Total deaths up 24 to 2495 Testing data:

• 10.46% positivity provincewide yesterday.

• North zone has the highest average positivity over the past week.
Sep 14, 2021 9 tweets 6 min read
Bleep blop this is Robson's bot with Alberta's latest COVID-19 data:

• 1459 new cases over the past 1 day(s). (This may vary from adjusted 'net' new cases. More on why here: cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…)
• 18265 active
• 822 in hospital w/212 in ICU
• Total deaths up 9 to 2471 Testing data:

• 12.18% positivity provincewide yesterday.

• North zone has the highest average positivity over the past week.
Sep 13, 2021 9 tweets 6 min read
Bleep blop this is Robson's bot with Alberta's latest COVID-19 data:

• 4762 new cases over the past 3 day(s). (This may vary from adjusted 'net' new cases. More on why here: cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…)
• 18395 active
• 803 in hospital w/198 in ICU
• Total deaths up 18 to 2462 ImageImageImageImage Testing data:

• 12.01% positivity provincewide yesterday.

• North zone has the highest average positivity over the past week. ImageImage
Sep 9, 2021 9 tweets 6 min read
Bleep blop this is Robson's bot with Alberta's latest COVID-19 data:

• 1522 new cases over the past 1 day(s). (This may vary from adjusted 'net' new cases. More on why here: cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…)
• 15977 active
• 679 in hospital w/154 in ICU
• Total deaths up 9 to 2434 Testing data:

• 11.04% positivity provincewide yesterday.

• North zone has the highest average positivity over the past week.
Sep 9, 2021 7 tweets 3 min read
Medicine Hat has been hit especially hard by the 4th wave of COVID-19 in Alberta.

There have been 16 deaths reported there over the past four weeks.

That's nearly half the total deaths the community has seen since the beginning of the pandemic. Medicine Hat is home to about 1.5% of Alberta's population and has accounted for 17% of the province's COVID-19 deaths over the past 4 weeks.
Sep 9, 2021 9 tweets 6 min read
Bleep blop this is Robson's bot with Alberta's latest COVID-19 data:

• 1229 new cases over the past 1 day(s). (This may vary from adjusted 'net' new cases. More on why here: cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…)
• 15618 active
• 647 in hospital w/147 in ICU
• Total deaths up 18 to 2425 Testing data:

• 11.48% positivity provincewide yesterday.

• North zone has the highest average positivity over the past week.
Sep 7, 2021 9 tweets 6 min read
Bleep blop this is Robson's bot with Alberta's latest COVID-19 data:

• 4927 new cases over the past 4 day(s). (This may vary from adjusted 'net' new cases. More on why here: cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…)
• 15486 active
• 602 in hospital w/137 in ICU
• Total deaths up 17 to 2407 ImageImageImageImage Testing data:

• 12.64% positivity provincewide yesterday.

• North zone has the highest average positivity over the past week. ImageImage
Aug 31, 2021 9 tweets 6 min read
Bleep blop this is Robson's bot with Alberta's latest COVID-19 data:

• 938 new cases over the past 1 day(s). (This may vary from adjusted 'net' new cases. More on why here: cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…)
• 11660 active
• 431 in hospital w/106 in ICU
• Total deaths up 4 to 2375 Testing data:

• 12.42% positivity provincewide yesterday.

• North zone has the highest average positivity over the past week.
Aug 30, 2021 9 tweets 6 min read
Bleep blop this is Robson's bot with Alberta's latest COVID-19 data:

• 3066 new cases over the past 3 day(s). (This may vary from adjusted 'net' new cases. More on why here: cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…)
• 11426 active
• 401 in hospital w/98 in ICU
• Total deaths up 7 to 2371 Testing data:

• 10.41% positivity provincewide yesterday.

• North zone has the highest average positivity over the past week.
Aug 6, 2021 9 tweets 6 min read
Bleep blop this is Robson's bot with the latest COVID-19 data for Alberta:

• 376 new cases yesterday. (This may vary from the adjusted 'net' new cases. More on why here: cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…)
• 2719 active
• 113 in hospital w/25 in ICU
• Total deaths up -4 to 2325 Testing data:

• 5.21% positivity provincewide yesterday.

• North zone has the highest average positivity over the past week.
Aug 5, 2021 10 tweets 7 min read
Bleep blop this is Robson's bot with the latest COVID-19 data for Alberta:

• 404 new cases yesterday. (This may vary from the adjusted 'net' new cases. More on why here: cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…)
• 2526 active
• 102 in hospital w/24 in ICU
• Total deaths up 1 to 2329 Testing data:

• 5.39% positivity provincewide yesterday.

• North zone has the highest average positivity over the past week.
Aug 4, 2021 9 tweets 7 min read
Bleep blop this is Robson's bot with the latest COVID-19 data for Alberta:

• 215 new cases yesterday. (This may vary from the adjusted 'net' new cases. More on why here: cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…)
• 2282 active
• 97 in hospital w/23 in ICU
• Total deaths up 0 to 2328 ImageImageImageImage Testing data:

• 3.83% positivity provincewide yesterday.

• North zone has the highest average positivity over the past week. ImageImage
Jul 29, 2021 9 tweets 6 min read
Bleep blop this is Robson's bot with the latest COVID-19 data for Alberta:

• 231 new cases yesterday. (This may vary from the adjusted 'net' new cases. More on why here: cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…)
• 1520 active
• 89 in hospital w/20 in ICU
• Total deaths up 0 to 2325 Testing data:

• 2.84% positivity provincewide yesterday.

• South zone has the highest average positivity over the past week.
Jul 28, 2021 9 tweets 6 min read
Bleep blop this is Robson's bot with the latest COVID-19 data for Alberta:

• 209 new cases yesterday. (This may vary from the adjusted 'net' new cases. More on why here: cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…)
• 1334 active
• 84 in hospital w/18 in ICU
• Total deaths up 0 to 2325 Testing data:

• 2.92% positivity provincewide yesterday.

• South zone has the highest average positivity over the past week.
Jul 27, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
Throughout the pandemic, Alberta Health has been great about answering my detailed questions on COVID-19, or at least trying to get me an answer when info was hard to come by.

That was not the experience for my colleagues covering this story today...🧵

cbc.ca/news/canada/ca… Among the questions asked — but not answered — were:

• How many of the infected people were vaccinated?
• Age ranges?
• How many are delta variant?
• How many people are in isolation as a result?
• What is known about onward spread?
• Any hospitalizations or deaths?
Jul 27, 2021 9 tweets 6 min read
Bleep blop this is Robson's bot with the latest COVID-19 data for Alberta:

• 144 new cases yesterday. (This may vary from the adjusted 'net' new cases. More on why here: cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…)
• 1173 active
• 82 in hospital w/21 in ICU
• Total deaths up 3 to 2325 ImageImageImageImage Testing data:

• 2.54% positivity provincewide yesterday.

• South zone has the highest average positivity over the past week. ImageImage
Jul 26, 2021 7 tweets 3 min read
The bot has already tweeted out the usual charts for today.

Here I'll tweet a few observations, most of them relating to one key trend:

Alberta's COVID-19 cases are increasingly concentrated among people in their 20s...🧵 Image Last week there were 310 cases among Albertans in their 20s. That's 41% of total cases for the week.

Cases in this age range more than tripled from the week before.

Cases also rose quite sharply among kids & teens (roughly tripling) & people in their 30s (doubling). Image
Jul 24, 2021 9 tweets 3 min read
It's normal for Alberta Health to make some minor adjustments to its COVID-19 case data each day.

But today's adjustments were unusual.

75 cases were retroactively removed from the tally, the bulk of them from December 2020.

This has made today's case reporting confusing...🧵 As always, AB Health reports two different numbers for new cases:

a) The "summary" count, which adds/subtracts all the retroactive revisions and gives you a *net* number

b) The detailed data, which gives you just the number of new cases actually identified yesterday
May 19, 2021 41 tweets 6 min read
You know what I haven't done in a while?

Live tweet something.

And since the premier is doing a Facebook Live Q&A right now...

Let's go. Q: Will summer festivals go ahead this year?

"Yes," Kenney says.

Then adds: "Ultimately that's up to the organizers."

He expects some "smaller events" in June and "hopefully ... much larger gatherings" by July.