Using zeros for missing data.

[carranco-sga]

Describe the bug
Is there any agreed consensus in the way missing data should be handled?

Commit a1a60bd by @dfuribez has changed some of the missing data I maintain to zeros; however, since March 23, Mexico's data reports don't include specifics on the number of recovered people, hence why I report it as missing.

Expected behavior
Missing data should be dealt with consistently for any one country and the database as a whole so it is more useful.
The changes made in the commit are just a fraction of the required ones to have consistency in Mexico's data.
I will gladly make the changes to the data under my responsibility, to maintain reporting style if there is a consensus in the way missing data should be handled.

However, I think zero has a very precise definition: nothing. Treating data that is not available (missing, but not necessarily equal to zero) as zero, confuses me.
And well, putting personal biases aside, it's much easier to "complete" the data replacing missing with zeros than vice-versa. A simple line of regex magic does the trick in these cases.

Files with the bug
Refer to a1a60bd.

Pinging contributors: @ZurMaD @rafnixg @RcrdPhysics @pablora19 @martingra @mamanipatricia @leytzher @josetup123 @ivanMSC @diegocl02 @dfuribez @ariasbordahugo @pablorea @rendergraf @Caospierre

[ivanMSC]

I vote for blanks.

[RcrdPhysics]

I vote for blanks. El mié., 8 abr. 2020 a las 23:23, ivang (<notifications@github.com>) escribió:

…

I vote for blanks. — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#59 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AKLIA2YGJ3MXIGC6QKUQEZ3RLVEUHANCNFSM4MENV6JQ> .

[dfuribez]

Yeah, I totally agree we need a way to differentiate between nothing and not reported data. I mentioned that problem on Slack a few days ago and I was told just to change all "missing" values for zeros.

And I'm sorry if I'm messing with your work.

[carranco-sga]

No harm done, @dfuribez. I hope this issue allows us to have a more useful database.

[pablodz]

Scripts need changes to allow blank spaces and we need to review all dataset to don't clear blank spaces.

[carranco-sga]

All missing strings in Mexico's data should've been changed to empty strings by 8cff184.

[pablodz]

We're now using blanck spaces `` for missing data