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Programmers are not epidemiologists, but epidemiologists have never needed programmers more. Not for our viral opinions but for our ability to retrieve large data sets and make them understandable through expressive code. As the pandemic was silently taking hold in the United States in early 2020, I used simple web and Ruby tools to gather invaluable data from often obscure state data sources in order to understand the extent of the pandemic in my area. I never expected this would lead me to become a contributor to the pirate CDC.

Olivier Lacan
Olivier likes to use computers to help people. He maintained Code School for many years and now builds tools to support exciting new learning modalities at Pluralsight. He created those Shields.io badges that plaster your open source READMEs and tried to make those same projects more accessible with Keep a Changelog. Recently, he contributed to the COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic and focused on uncovering pandemic data for the state of Florida.

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In the video titled 'Tracking COVID-19 with Ruby,' Olivier Lacan shares his journey and experiences as a programmer who contributed to tracking COVID-19 data in Florida through the use of Ruby. The presentation highlights the intersection of technology and public health during the pandemic, emphasizing the importance of data accessibility and transparency.

Key Points Discussed:
- **Initial Awareness of COVID-19**: Olivier recounts his early awareness of COVID-19 from his co-worker whose family was directly affected in Wuhan, China, leading to his growing curiosity about the virus's spread in the U.S.
- **Data Discovery**: After discovering state and county health websites, Lacan recognized the absence of comprehensive data, prompting him to join the COVID Tracking Project, which was initiated to compile and present accurate testing and case information.
- **Volunteer Efforts**: He describes his transition from coding to data entry within a volunteer team, emphasizing the collaborative nature of their work through platforms like Slack and Google Sheets. They aimed to ensure reliable and updated data was available for public consumption.
- **Ruby Tools Developed**: Lacan developed several Ruby-based tools to facilitate data gathering, including Paperboy, which automated news searches for COVID-19 updates, and a parser for accessing JSON data from Florida's health dashboard. His work illustrated how a basic understanding of programming can drive substantial impact in public health initiatives.
- **Data Transparency in Florida**: Lacan highlights issues around data opacity from Florida's Department of Health and discusses instances of misinformation from the state administration about COVID-19 metrics and hospitalizations. His efforts led him to connect with local journalists and researchers to advocate for more transparent data reporting.
- **Public Advocacy**: He shares his insights on the importance of funding journalism and supporting accurate reporting, emphasizing the ethical responsibility programmers and technologists hold in times of public crises. Lacan concludes with a call to action, urging technologists to volunteer and contribute their skills for the greater good.

Through this narrative, Olivier emphasizes the power of technology in public health, the necessity for collaboration, and the critical role of accurate data in combating misinformation during the pandemic.

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