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I don't think that's typical for catastrophies. You also don't include some factor for better healthcare in 2021 than in 1918 either, or some of the other count
by Barrin92 5y ago
I don't think that's typical for catastrophies. You also don't include some factor for better healthcare in 2021 than in 1918 either, or some of the other countless factors one could look at that would tilt the number in either direction.
the logic I suppose is that people are interested in the severity of the event as such. To take a crass example, we would probably not adjust a genocide for population either.
- ekianjo 5y ago> I don't think that's typical for catastrophies It is typical for pandemics. For the black plague the deaths are reported at the % of population.
- ttyprintk 5y agoThis isn’t what I’ve seen. Historical speculation talks about proportions because they’d have to use proportions to arrive at a total number anyway. Any *demic event with modern record keeping talks about the numerator.
- angelzen 5y agoDisaster reporting focuses on absolute numbers because populations have exploded during XX century. Disasters have a whole lot more people in their path, thus a solid chance to break morbid records that sell newspapers. "Record deaths during Japan tsunami" sells a whole lot better than "Yet another tsunami in Japan". This is media selling fear porn. It didn't start with covid.