The Numbers Guy
Posted on January 13, 2005
Filed Under /dev/null/ | 71 views |
The Wall Street Journal has started a new column about the use and abuse of numbers and statistics by the powers that be in The Numbers Guy.
This edition: Just How Deadly Is Bird Flu? It Depends on Whom You Ask.
…the group’s doctors and scientists have lately been forecasting truly alarming numbers from the so-called Asian bird flu — up to 100 million deaths. One researcher has gone much further, suggesting the toll could be up to a billion people.
[...]
“We have come up with this information because we feel it is important to share with the world,” Dr. Stohr says. “There are a number of decisions governments and regional authorities can take that can have an impact on pandemic preparedness.”
[...]
But a faulty number can be worse than no number, especially when it can evoke fear in the general population without advising any evasive actions people can take. Richard Schabas, Ontario’s former chief medical officer, contrasts influenza warnings with those about tobacco. “Scaring people about avian influenza accomplishes nothing, because we’re not asking people to do anything about it. I don’t see the point of that,” says Dr. Schabas, now chief of staff at York Central Hospital in Richmond Hill, Ontario
Anything that helps turn back the tide of innumeracy is a good thing, IMO.
In other news: I just checked my server logs and up to 1 000 000 people could be reading this blog every month.
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