More than 185,000 people have already died from the coronavirus in the US. If you’ve checked the Johns Hopkins Covid-19 dashboard as frequently as I have for the last several months, the growing death toll may have started to look like numbers on a broken digital scale counting up to some interminable figure. Its persistent climb demonstrates the eerie psychological trick large numbers play on our minds: “If only one man dies … that is a tragedy. If millions die, that’s only statistics.”
More than 185,000 people have already died from the coronavirus in the US. If you’ve checked the Johns Hopkins Covid-19 dashboard as frequently as I have for the last several months, the growing death toll may have started to look like numbers on a broken digital scale counting up to some interminable figure. Its persistent climb demonstrates the eerie psychological trick large numbers play on our minds: “If only one man dies … that is a tragedy. If millions die, that’s only statistics.”
