Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

One valuable property of plotting deaths (total) vs. deaths (last week), or cases vs. cases, is that the shape of the plot is immune to consistent distortions in reporting; if country A is consistently down-playing the death rate by x%, the slope will still be the same, although the position along the line will be x% smaller in both axis. If the distortion is changed, to y%, then there will be a departure from the common slope, but if the real rate has not changed the graph will return to a positive (but shallower) slope after a couple of weeks.

And indeed, every country but South Korea and Japan show pretty much the same pattern. South Korea had a pretty vigorous response, but Japan? Perhaps reporting standards in Japan keep changing?

Hm, Iran deaths look funny, too. They suddenly leveled off at 900/wk (linear chart). Ah... cases log chart shows a short deviation, then resuming slope (even steeper!) So, reporting change?

[Edit: SK also outlier, Iran, added cases vs. cases]




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: