You will now need to create a variable orig$\_$nyt$\_$covid$state$\_$abb so that you can merge your two data frames together. You are welcome to do $50$ different $"$if$"$ commands, alternatively you might save some time $($and your sanity$)$ by using the state$2$abbr$()$ function in the usdata library. You'll need to install the usdata library $($Tools$-->$Install Packages...$).$ You can then include it under your previous library $($under the knitr::opt$\_$chunk in your initial code chunk$).$ Use help$()$ to figure out the syntax for state$2$abbr$().$