‘Data Stories’ Track COVID Impact, Inform Policy in Boston

Source: GovTech Published: January 29th, 2021

In this month’s installment of the Innovation of the Month series, we focus on a combination of efforts happening in Boston to combine existing data about quality of life at the neighborhood level with surveys about residents’ behavior during the pandemic. This data was then distilled into digestible stories that help the researchers better connect with their community on these topics. MetroLab’s Ben Levine spoke with Dan O’Brien, Alina Ristea and David Brade from Northeastern University about their project.

Ben Levine: Your team is working on multiple efforts, rolled up under the “Data-Support System for a City During a Pandemic” project. What are the different parts of this project, and who has been involved in them?

Dan O’Brien: The data-support system for Boston comprises two main efforts. First, the COVID in Boston Database contains numerous administrative and Internet-gathered data sources we curated that capture the events and conditions of greater Boston before, during and after the onset of the pandemic. Second, the “Living in Boston During COVID-19” survey, which we conducted with UMass Boston’s Center for Survey Research and the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), collected responses from 1,600 Bostonians about their behaviors, experiences and attitudes throughout the pandemic. The combination of these two resources has spoken to a wide variety of questions and concerns, especially highlighting a range of racial and socioeconomic inequities — from infection rates, to the ability to social distance, to housing and evictions, to local economic activity.

In addition to our collaborators on the survey, we have worked closely with a variety of partners to design and collect these resources. We are now working closely with numerous public agencies, including BPHC, the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, the Department of Neighborhood Development, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, Boston Police Department, the Office of Neighborhood Services and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, as we turn our attention to insights that can inform the recovery.

Levine: What kinds of data are in the COVID in Boston Database? How do you expect they could best be leveraged?

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Photo by Matthew Landers on Unsplash