> surprisingly small for how much we freak out about it. It might be small _because_ we freak out about it. Kind of like New Zealand's COVID-19 numbers (or oth

> surprisingly small for how much we freak out about it. It might be small _because_ we freak out about it. Kind of like New Zealand's COVID-19 numbers (or other countries with aggressive prevention / mitigation methods). In comparing diseases we probably want to compare their transmission and mortality rates and long-term effects. If we compare their infection or death count then we're comparing the disease + the response together which muddies the waters a bit.