Math on COVID deaths

I was more than a little disappointed that a recent letter to the editor contained a major math error that was not detected by editorial page staff, especially since the mistake was used as a criticism of "alarmist" Daily Herald reporting.

A letter by Mary Doetsch on Oct. 29 misrepresented the true percentage of the population that have died of COVID, by a significant margin.

Ms. Doetsch explained that the Herald reported "1 in 500 Illinoisans have died from the virus," which is true, but she went on to state that was only equal to .002% of the population. If this were the true percentage, it would mean that only 1 in 50,000 people in Illinois have died from COVID, a 100-fold difference. This is an easy enough mistake to make when someone uses a calculator but is unclear on how to interpret the results. One in 500 equals 0.2%, not 0.002%

To put the death toll from COVID in the U.S. in broad perspective, approximately 600,000 Americans died from cancer in 2020. Although the widely accepted estimate of over 700,000 deaths from COVID is over a different time frame (approximately 18 months), we can easily see that the impact of COVID was in the same general ballpark as all cancer deaths combined.

I am not questioning Ms. Doetsch's motives, just her math. I agree with her when she concludes we need to "begin reporting these statistics in perspective." Perhaps this simple math lesson will bring us closer to that perspective.

Brad Johnson

Wauconda