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As interesting as this article is... you absolutely can compare Covid-19 deaths to Flu Deaths. It's a far better comparison than, say, the people who note that

As interesting as this article is... you absolutely can compare Covid-19 deaths to Flu Deaths. It's a far better comparison than, say, the people who note that we are having a 9/11 Terrorist Attack every day. I think the fear is that people will look at the death toll alone -- but if you include timespan as a point of comparison, it becomes very helpful to developing an understanding. But as long as we're suddenly concerned about understanding the statistics about deaths... the 40,000 people that die annually to "gun violence", over half are suicides.

snarf21 7y ago
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." - made popular by Mark Twain. Which as you point out, context matters, detail matters. You can make any point you want given enough caveats.
gnusty_gnurc 7y ago
On a somewhat related note - the absolute death toll number isn't super useful either. I was shocked to learn a couple days ago that it seems pretty consistent around the world that 50% of that toll is from people in nursing homes. I did a quick search and found a study that found median/mean stay in a nursing home until death is 5/13 months. I'm not even examining the numbers closely, but that would suggest a huge number of people dying that are in absolutely precarious health. A death toll number does not convey that at all.