> It's not about "what is the delta" it's about imagining a literal city full of people who have died prematurely. That's the thing though, there's always a ci

> It's not about "what is the delta" it's about imagining a literal city full of people who have died prematurely. That's the thing though, there's always a city full of people who die, and it's pretty much always prematurely if you ask anyone that cared about them. There's no reason to help people visualize the actual number because the actual number is irrelevant. Would a 7% increase in the death rate be less shocking in Denmark even though it'd just be five villages and not half a city in absolute numbers? Looking at absolute numbers to visualize things that are relative confuses people, because you'll need to play weird games when you want to get your point across but your population is 5m. "If we had 50m citizens, this would be half a city" is weird, people will rightfully say "but we don't, what are you talking about?" I don't believe news should be aiming to convey emotion, or be manipulating. I also don't believe that the "how many football fields is that?" approach to news is useful.