Giving Map Calls a Code Purple; Adds Call to Halt Thanksgiving Travel

Dynamic COVID-19 map and time-lapse animation provides startling demonstration that could spur cancellations of holiday gatherings

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — This summer, Givingmap.org�s interactive COVID-19 map showed the US counties hardest hit by COVID. The organization used a simple color-coded scheme — green for counties with few or no cases per 25,000 residents, and yellow, orange, and red for counties harder hit. The darkest red color indicated counties with more than 100 cases per 25,000. The goal was to connect potential donors with the hardest hit counties.

About a week ago, the Giving Map team woke to a map that was more than half red.

Today, Givingmap.org is introducing a new color category on the dynamic map: purple. Counties colored purple on the map have the highest rates of COVID-19 infection, more than 500 cases per 25,000 in population. As of today, November 20, 2020, there are 94 purple counties. (List of top 200 counties.)

For every case of COVID-19 reported, between five and ten people may be spreading the virus without showing symptoms or knowing that they have it. In Wisconsin, more than one-third of COVID-19 test results in the past week have come back positive. The CDC is recommending that people cancel holiday travel plans and reconsider any gathering that includes people from outside their immediate household.

“With all this in mind, we would like to add our voice to the calls to reconsider holiday travel,” said Tess Gadwa, program director of GivingMap.org. “If our map gets one unknowingly infected person to stay home for Thanksgiving, we could save lives.”

This time lapse animation provides a stark demonstration of the current situation and the speed of infection. Start the animation to see how quickly the infection has spread across the country in only the past few weeks. Share it with family and friends who may be considering attending or hosting a gathering.

“It’s no secret that Coronavirus infection rates are spiraling out of control in the United States, with more than 1 million new infections in the past week and over 8,000 deaths,” continued Gadwa, “Many of these are in the Midwest, West, and South. Many are rural areas. No one is safe.”

About GivingMap.org

GivingMap.org is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit initiative created in partnership with Lotus.fm LLC, PDX Hackerspace, Charity Navigator, the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund, and a core team of dedicated open source volunteers. Follow Giving Map on Twitter – @GivingMap

Bobbie Carlton
Carlton PR & Marketing
bobbie@carltonprmarketing.com
781-281-8387

A video accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3cfc0cf4-085e-468c-a4e6-0c75445b9ca3