Dead CV scrolls

The New York Times’ visualisation of mortality rate increases throughout the years is quite something. It picks out countries, cities and states from around the world who are experiencing more deaths than normal right now, and compares them to events throughout history. From natural disasters such as hurricanes to man-made ones like the collapse of the Twin Towers, there’s a range from normal to “Spanish fly in Philadelphia” which saw mortality rates rise more than seven times. It’s worth pointing out that South Africa remains an anomaly – not only are covid-related deaths low here, but a dramatic fall in non-natural causes of death (guns, cars) means that we’re still tracking way below normal mortality rates for this time of year.