The Press Cohort (Arizona)

Better known as “The Data Guru of Arizona” and “The Count of Phoenix,” Garrett Archer led the pack (or the cauldron?) as a investigative data journalist for ABC 15 News, providing frequent, transparent and accessible data and analysis during COVID-19.

Garrett’s meticulous attention to detail, meaningful analysis, and outgoing personality gained him regional and then national notoriety as an honest and data-driven reporter.

“Garrett loves nothing more than pouring over data to find a deeper understanding for stories of the day and stories that are pertinent to the community,” says his ABC 15 news profile.

Garrett quickly became one of our most frequently submitted nominees, as his work with ABC15 in Phoenix impacted the entire U.S. Southwest, where transparent data and reporting remained scarce throughout the pandemic.

He’s not afraid to call out failures or to celebrate success when warranted. And when Garrett caught COVID-19 in January, he made a point to talk about his experience publicly.

In the vaccine-rollout madness, Garrett keeps people informed of when and how Arizona and its surrounding states change the eligibility requirements:

The state is moving to a sliding scale based on age in what appears to be 10 year increments. Once 55% of an age category is considered vaccinated, counties may move on to the next one down.

This is according to @azdhs press release. https://t.co/JYBD5O687h

— The AZ – abc15 – Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) March 1, 2021

Despite the emotional and psychological toll that comes with being a journalist assigned to cover COVID-19, Garrett brings levity into the fold as often as he can, using code and data to cheer people up.

How do you like my R script snippet?

age <- 39
name <- 'Garrett Archer'

if (lubridate::today() == '2021-03-01' & name == 'Garrett Archer') {
age = age + 1
print(paste0("ONE, ONE MORE ", age, " YEAR OLD, HAH HAH HAH!", sep = ''))
}

— The AZ – abc15 – Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) March 1, 2021

A few words from those who nominated Garrett:

“Garrett Archer, Phoenix’s Data Guru from early on in covid has posted daily information, metrics and numbers related to COVID. His tweets have been daily and have posted current and up to date. He also has made a daily tweet showing the Navajo Nation pandemic information and is one of the few outside of the reservation.”

“Garrett has dedicated his work to sifting through AZ’s COVID data, and giving straightforward analysis and showing us trends from throughout the pandemic! I see his data as more helpful and inclusive of the pandemic, in comparison to the state’s DHS dashboard. In a world with numbers and info being flung everywhere, Garrett continues to be a warrior across all fronts, with the addition of vaccine updates in his daily drops! I think I can speak for many of the residents of arizona, by saying that his data analysis has highlighted Arizona’s successes and failings during these hard times. it’s allowed me to adjust what I’m doing in order to keep people safe.”

Click here to follow Garrett on Twitter.
Click here to see Garrett’s reporting with ABC15 News.