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FACT BRIEF

Did the CDC change a COVID-19 map ahead of the State of the Union address to make it look better for Biden?

By Ed Payne
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NO

The maps in question illustrate different aspects of the pandemic and use different color schemes to do so. One is not an update of the other.

The first map is from the CDC's COVID Data Tracker and shows the level of community transmission across the U.S. on a county-by-county basis. It says nothing about the severity of those cases or how they're impacting local health systems.

The second map is the CDC's COVID-19 Community Levels by County Map, which is a "measure of the impact of COVID-19 illness on health and healthcare systems" in the U.S.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Centers for Disease Control CDC COVID Data Tracker
Centers for Disease Control COVID-19 by County
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.