Joss Fong, Áron Filkey and Joey Sendaydiego of Vox took a close look at COVID-19 case fatality rates, weaving a narrative that included emotional human stories and underlying pandemic statistics. The video used white- and blue-colored lights as a visual representation of fatality statistics, digging into how excess deaths are calculated, and distinguishing the important difference between the case fatality rate and the fatality rate for all who may be infected, whether diagnosed or not. Larry Engel, associate professor at American University’s School of Communication, said that the video “makes essential statistics and probability ― not necessarily the most visual of things ― clear and interesting for a lay audience.” The video helped make sense of the overwhelming amount of information and statistics during the spreading pandemic. “At a time when reporting on COVID-19 was overflowing with faceless statistics,” said Mairead Dundas of France 24, “this report managed to remind us what all these numbers mean at a personal level.” Fong said her team “wanted to create a video that would help viewers understand some of the mortality statistics that they would be seeing for months to come, without losing sight of the real human beings and families behind each of those numbers.”
