Two Parts: Yikes! and Dates in Power BI

Yesterday, after I finished posting my blog post, I did my usual evening pull down of data and review of the latest results. And yikes! Graphically, it looked like the cases jumped so I’m going to briefly talk about those before heading to my original topic: dates in power BI. That second topic will be very brief also.

Okay, first, I had a concern about the dimensions of my chart and whether it was distorting the analysis of what I was seeing so I did a few different dimensions of the same graph.

It looks like squishing the chart vertically a la the first chart in section B makes the surge more dramatic while squishing horizontally like that in section C dampens the drama, even though the surge is still apparent. I think my original chart isn’t distorting the rise – the Midwest is suffering a rampant infection in the community.

Here’s a comparison with yesterday’s chart:

I didn’t change the dimensions on the 11/13/2020 chart (on the left in section A); Power BI did the adjusting to fit the single day surge onto the chart. The surge was dramatic enough that my eyes caught the adjustment when the screen updated and I just went “whoa!”.

So, after I caught this dramatic surge late at night, maybe around 11 p.m., I spent the rest of the night and morning previewing the news on the coronavirus – I was up until roughly 3 a.m. in the morning. The news are mostly dire. At this point, I think masks are probably going to be useless and the virus is just going to rip through our communities because hospitals are about tapped out and the people are showing no will to take the extreme steps necessary to reduce the virus’ opportunities to infect. The best thing to do if you are concerned is to stay home (if you can) and have no contact whatsoever with people because you won’t know who made contact with an infected person and thus could be bringing the virus to you. This self-isolation could go on for months.

Here’s a more detailed graphic on the four regions on 11/13/2020:

In the Midwest, it’s Illinois, followed by Michigan and then Wisconsin. The top three for the Northeast are: New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The South’s top three are: Texas, Florida and Tennessee. Finally, in the West, California leads the pack, followed by Colorado and Arizona.

Now, for a few things I’ve learned about dates in Power BI.