# Why measure COVID deaths in absolute rather than per capita numbers?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-measure-covid-deaths-in-absolute-rather-than-per-capita-numbers/855684>\
**Category:** The Quarantine Zone\
**Tags:** covid-quarantine\
**Created:** [June 15, 2020, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-measure-covid-deaths-in-absolute-rather-than-per-capita-numbers/855684 "2020-06-15T08:11:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2020, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-measure-covid-deaths-in-absolute-rather-than-per-capita-numbers/855684/41 "2020-06-16T17:55:29Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Quoth **snfaulkner** :
> 
> No fucking shit. I understand what per capita means. And I understand it’s uses. TOTAL deaths gets the headlines because the average human who cares about other humans wants to know how many names, how many faces, how many family’s were destroyed by whatever it is that is being talked about.

Then why report on the total number of deaths in the US? People in other countries have names, faces, and families, too.

And no, humans _don’t_ care about millions of people far away from them. We probably should, bu that’s not the way we’re wired: We each care about perhaps 200 people, at most.

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