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Dissecting Georgia’s daily COVID-19 data
A woman took a deep dive into the state's reported coronavirus numbers, causing officials to correct the figures.
ATLANTA - Trying to keep up with the daily COVID-19 numbers and trends can be difficult, but one Smyrna mother has become a wiz at it. Her numbers-crunching has caused the state of Georgia to recheck and even correct its figures. She is now being followed on social media by many healthcare workers as a trusted source.
It was a member of the healthcare community on the frontline in the fight against the coronavirus that first alerted FOX 5 News to Kelley Khronert’s Twitter account. Her tweets break down the daily numbers and dive into the data released by the Georgia Department of Public Health.
For example, recently when Georgia had seen a spike in daily COVID-19 cases, Kelley discovered it was from a large data dump from a north Georgia lab that was just then reporting its test results that were up to six weeks old.
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Khronert has a psychology degree from Emory and a background in IT. Last spring, wanting to keep herself, her husband, and middle-school daughter safe, she said she found herself needing more info than just the daily COVID-19 case numbers. So she dived into the deep end of the data.
She posts her analysis of the numbers on Twitter and on a website she has created. She has fought hard to stick to the numbers without emotion, and especially without political bias that has won her a following among many healthcare professionals.
Khronert has noticed when the GDPH’s number just didn't add up. For example, on August 24 she tweeted: “There’s something very weird about today’s numbers.”
Later, the GDPH explained a large data dump of old test results that drove up Georgia’s positivity report for that day.
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She said she has only praise for the hard work the department does every day.
Khronert said she has seen positive trends in Georgia’s numbers, a hopeful sign, she said. She said if the trends continue in a positive way this week, the White House Coronavirus Task Force may be able to remove Georgia from its lists of states in its so-called “red zones.” The red zones signifying states with a high number of cases and a high number of positive cases.
RELATED: CoronavirusNOW.com, FOX launches national hub for COVID-19 news and updates.
Know how the COVID-19 outbreak is impacting Georgia