Credit USDA
#18,810
As I wrote yesterday, in Where The Wild Bird Flu Data Goes, on Thursday the USDA's HPAI in Wild Birds Dashboard display abruptly omitted 5 of the 8 columns of information on each report, including Date detected, HPAI Subtype, Bird Species, WOAH Classification and Sampling Method.
Yesterday's Display On The USDA Wild Bird Site
After I downloaded the full CSV file I discovered that the 4th column had been widened to 256 characters - and in 6 entries, filled with long strings of characters - effectively shoving the missing data far to the right, effectively preventing it from being displayed.
I'm pleased to report that sometime since late yesterday afternoon the USDA's site has been fixed (see screenshot below) and that - for the most part - all of the data is displaying properly.
Curiously, as of 4am EST this morning, the 6 errant entries (all from Obion County, Tn) remain (see screenshot below). While this skews the display on those pages, all the data remains accessible.
Although I'm a bit mystified over the reasoning behind expanding a date field to 256 characters - and filling several entries with long strings of characters - I'm sure it made sense to someone at the time.
In any event, I'm grateful for all of calls online to the USDA asking for a remedy, and the USDA's prompt response.
