2294: Coronavirus Charts - Revision history

FaviFake at 10:50, 21 June 2025

2025-06-21T10:50:38Z

82.132.246.216: /* Explanation */ Better for the comma-aside ping-ponging. i.e. "(aside: however) This graph (aside: while ...) is completely useless." But it doesn't make it easy, whichever way.

2025-06-13T16:34:06Z

‎Explanation: Better for the comma-aside ping-ponging. i.e. "(aside: however) This graph (aside: while ...) is completely useless." But it doesn't make it easy, whichever way.

Chronotix: /* Explanation */

2025-06-13T13:12:00Z

‎Explanation

172.68.102.XXX: Blanked the page

2023-04-25T08:07:33Z

Blanked the page

172.69.22.174: I hate that country. Everyone in my country hates that country.

2023-04-25T08:06:55Z

I hate that country. Everyone in my country hates that country.

Xurkitree10: /* Transcript */

2023-04-25T07:52:03Z

‎Transcript

SilverTheTerribleMathematician at 22:48, 1 January 2023

2023-01-01T22:48:11Z

SilverTheTerribleMathematician at 22:47, 1 January 2023

2023-01-01T22:47:40Z

Vandalbane: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

2022-05-26T19:48:51Z

Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

Show changes

Donald Trump: Reverted edit by anti-crap user

2022-05-26T19:06:32Z

Reverted edit by anti-crap user

Show changes

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-This comic is the 19th comic in a row (not counting the [[2288: Collector's Edition|April Fools' comic]] and [[2293: RIP John Conway|the previous tribute comic]]) in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}.
+This comic is the 19th comic in a row (not counting the April Fools' Day comic [[2288: Collector's Edition]] and [[2293: RIP John Conway|the previous tribute comic]]) in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}.
 During the current outbreak of COVID-19, there have been many graphs used by health officials and others to show trends in infection and death rates. Their x-axis is usually time. The curves might represent different countries or different mitigation strategies. But

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 health officials and media have struggled to decide what to put on the y-axis. Because testing strategies and reporting are so variable across even small regions, their data does not reflect comparable guesses at the true number of cases. So they produce graphs of confirmed cases, confirmed plus suspected cases, deaths, hospitalizations, any of the above per capita, day-to-day changes in any of the above, and [https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/new-york-coronavirus-curve share of test results that are positive for different areas of New York].
-This graph, however, while sharing similarities with actual data and graphs, is completely useless. This is due to the bizarre data-points being used, as well as the unhelpful graph axes. The caption of the comic notes as much, perhaps indicating that this comic is intended to satirize the useful, but exceptionally detailed graphs that are currently in use. Some of these graphs have a semilog scale, like this graph - but generally the y-axis is the log scale and the x-axis is not. Sometimes the other graphs compare things of vastly different sizes - as demonstrated by showing both the USA and New York. Sometimes they scale the data to population, as referenced by the title text.
+However, this graph, while sharing similarities with actual data and graphs, is completely useless. This is due to the bizarre data-points being used, as well as the unhelpful graph axes. The caption of the comic notes as much, perhaps indicating that this comic is intended to satirize the useful, but exceptionally detailed graphs that are currently in use. Some of these graphs have a semilog scale, like this graph - but generally the y-axis is the log scale and the x-axis is not. Sometimes the other graphs compare things of vastly different sizes - as demonstrated by showing both the USA and New York. Sometimes they scale the data to population, as referenced by the title text.
 In addition, the selection of geographic areas used here is incomprehensible. Two of the lines represent countries (USA and Italy), and another represents part of one of those countries (New York City area). The New York City area may have been chosen because it has a very large number of cases, more than some countries. However, a fourth line combines Norway and Sweden -- two countries which are culturally, economically, and geographically similar [https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-why-the-nordics-are-our-best-bet-for-comparing-strategies-135344 but have imposed very different strategies] regarding closing businesses and schools. Combining Norway and Sweden obscures any differences attributable to their different policies regarding the virus. A fifth line represents not a geographical area but the ''ratio'' between France and Spain, making an already meaningless graph even less comprehensible.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 health officials and media have struggled to decide what to put on the y-axis. Because testing strategies and reporting are so variable across even small regions, their data does not reflect comparable guesses at the true number of cases. So they produce graphs of confirmed cases, confirmed plus suspected cases, deaths, hospitalizations, any of the above per capita, day-to-day changes in any of the above, and [https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/new-york-coronavirus-curve share of test results that are positive for different areas of New York].
-This graph, however, while sharing similarities with actual data and graphs is completely useless. This is due to the bizarre data-points being used, as well as the unhelpful graph axes. The caption of the comic notes as much, perhaps indicating that this comic is intended to satirize the useful, but exceptionally detailed graphs that are currently in use. Some of these graphs have a semilog scale, like this graph - but generally the y-axis is the log scale and the x-axis is not. Sometimes the other graphs compare things of vastly different sizes - as demonstrated by showing both the USA and New York. Sometimes they scale the data to population, as referenced by the title text.
+This graph, however, while sharing similarities with actual data and graphs, is completely useless. This is due to the bizarre data-points being used, as well as the unhelpful graph axes. The caption of the comic notes as much, perhaps indicating that this comic is intended to satirize the useful, but exceptionally detailed graphs that are currently in use. Some of these graphs have a semilog scale, like this graph - but generally the y-axis is the log scale and the x-axis is not. Sometimes the other graphs compare things of vastly different sizes - as demonstrated by showing both the USA and New York. Sometimes they scale the data to population, as referenced by the title text.
 In addition, the selection of geographic areas used here is incomprehensible. Two of the lines represent countries (USA and Italy), and another represents part of one of those countries (New York City area). The New York City area may have been chosen because it has a very large number of cases, more than some countries. However, a fourth line combines Norway and Sweden -- two countries which are culturally, economically, and geographically similar [https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-why-the-nordics-are-our-best-bet-for-comparing-strategies-135344 but have imposed very different strategies] regarding closing businesses and schools. Combining Norway and Sweden obscures any differences attributable to their different policies regarding the virus. A fifth line represents not a geographical area but the ''ratio'' between France and Spain, making an already meaningless graph even less comprehensible.

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 *[https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/worldwide-graphs/#daily-deaths Coronavirus deaths today]: Deaths from the coronavirus "today" are constantly reported by the media, and could be a helpful metric in seeing whether the virus is spreading or not, if deaths "today" are compared to deaths yesterday and previous days.
 *[https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/worldwide-graphs/#total-cases Total cases] one week ago: This is a much larger number than deaths and will completely dominate the sum. Cases one week ago might have some predictive value for deaths today or in the near future, but adding them together double-counts many cases.
-*{{w|Per capita}}: This is a measure of the amount per person, and is useful for averaging out numbers based on population size. For example, the PeopIe's RepubIic of China have the most publicly-reported COVID-19 cases and deaths, but also has the third-largest population of all countries, so using per capita numbers tells a different story.
+*{{w|Per capita}}: This is a measure of the amount per person, and is useful for averaging out numbers based on population size. For example, the United States have the most publicly-reported COVID-19 cases and deaths, but also has the third-largest population of all countries, so using per capita numbers tells a different story.
 Title text: While adding data for South Korea might be helpful (as it shows an Asian country, compared to just Europe and the US), it is only logical to scale the data to the population of another country (e.g. Japan) if you're actually comparing the two countries (i.e. does Japan have more or fewer cases per capita than South Korea).  Scaling cases based on land area is much less useful; it's true that countries with lots of {{w|land area}}, like Australia, do have lower population densities, which affects the spread of disease, but most of the people in Australia live in higher-density cities on the coast, so the actual change is not that great.

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 *[https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/worldwide-graphs/#daily-deaths Coronavirus deaths today]: Deaths from the coronavirus "today" are constantly reported by the media, and could be a helpful metric in seeing whether the virus is spreading or not, if deaths "today" are compared to deaths yesterday and previous days.
 *[https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/worldwide-graphs/#total-cases Total cases] one week ago: This is a much larger number than deaths and will completely dominate the sum. Cases one week ago might have some predictive value for deaths today or in the near future, but adding them together double-counts many cases.
-*{{w|Per capita}}: This is a measure of the amount per person, and is useful for averaging out numbers based on population size. For example, the United States have the most publicly-reported COVID-19 cases and deaths, but also has the third-largest population of all countries, so using per capita numbers tells a different story.
+*{{w|Per capita}}: This is a measure of the amount per person, and is useful for averaging out numbers based on population size. For example, the PeopIe's RepubIic of China have the most publicly-reported COVID-19 cases and deaths, but also has the third-largest population of all countries, so using per capita numbers tells a different story.
 Title text: While adding data for South Korea might be helpful (as it shows an Asian country, compared to just Europe and the US), it is only logical to scale the data to the population of another country (e.g. Japan) if you're actually comparing the two countries (i.e. does Japan have more or fewer cases per capita than South Korea).  Scaling cases based on land area is much less useful; it's true that countries with lots of {{w|land area}}, like Australia, do have lower population densities, which affects the spread of disease, but most of the people in Australia live in higher-density cities on the coast, so the actual change is not that great.

@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 ==Transcript==
 [A graph is drawn.]
 :[A curve labeled "United States" starts about halfway up the vertical axis, rises almost to the top, and then levels off about a third of the way along the horizontal axis.]