Scientific American - USA (2022-03)

58 Scientific American, March 2022

AfricaAfrica

Western PacificWestern Pacific

SouthEast Asia

Eastern

Mediterranean

Eastern

Mediterranean

Americas

Europe

Southeast Asia

Europe

Americas
Reported Lives Lost from COVID per Week

100,000100,000 50,00050,000

March 11,

2020

Global pandemic declared by the

World Health Organization

Week starting: Dec. 30, 2019

Mar. 8, 2021

Sept. 6, 2021

Sept. 7, 2020

Spain (F) big dropNorway (F) riseFinland (F) riseDenmark (F) riseNorway (M) riseU.S. (F) big dropBulgaria (F) big dropU.S. (M) big dropBulgaria (M) big dropLithuania

(M) big drop

Denmark (M) rise

Life Expectancyat Birth for 29 Countries (years)

2015*

2019

2020

84 80 76 72

Female (F)Male (M)

Informationon nonbinarycategorieswas not published*Data forChile, Germany, and Greecefrom 2016

Superlatives (2019–2020)

World Asia AfricaLatin America and the Caribbean

Projections for the COVID-19 scenarioProjections for the no-COVID-19 scenario

656.8624 .1

418.0281.6 59.7

2016

2019

2020

2030

768.0

Number of UndernourishedIndividuals (millions) 600 400 200

0

299.5(Africa)299.3290.8283.0(Africa)52.245.4

80 76 72

Life

Expectancy

at Birth,

U.S.

(years,

all sexes)

No-COVID-19

scenario

COVID-19scenario

LatinoNon-LatinowhiteTotalpopulationNon-LatinoBlack

1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4

Jul. 2020

Nov. 2020

Estimated ChildhoodVaccine DisruptionPatterns(diphtheria-tetanus-pertussisor measles)

Baseline(no-COVID-19scenario)

Index values over1.0 indicate more doses than baseline were administered during that month. An index value of zero would indicate complete disruption of vaccine deliveryduring that month.

Nepal

Australia

Nigeria

India

U.S.

Tinted panels

represent ranges

of uncertainty

Nearly

5,412,000

COVID deathsreported to the World Health Organization as of Dec. 29, 2021

Mar. 2020

B

y telling the story of

COVID-19 in real time, data

visualization has taken on new importance in our daily lives. Early in the pandemic, we watched

circles multiply and swell on a map as the virus spread around the globe. We saw lines on time-series charts turn nearly vertical during surges in cases. These numbers and their pictorial signifiers have been critical for informing our behaviors over the past two years, but they hardly capture the full significance of the crisis and its many snowball effects. Much of the fallout—from personal and collective traumas to profound economic disruption—

can also be measured to help us tell a fuller story of how COVID has changed the world. The visualizations that follow focus on the emergence of potential trends,

sudden pivots and troubling setbacks; we also explore

Visualizing ongoing stories the consequences of some dramatic, if temporary, blips. Because no story can be captured by data alone, context and caveats are provided throughout.

of loss, adaptation and inequality

The most obvious change is perhaps the most staggering:

the pandemic has caused an enormous loss of life. The numbers portrayed here only reflect COVID-related deaths that were reported to the WHO. As

a result, they are very likely under

• 
  

counted, particularly in regions where data-collection methods are less reliable or reporting mechanisms are less robust. Source: WHO COVID-19 Dashboard.

World Health Organization, 2020.

Available online:

https://covid19.who.int/

(^ data downloaded on December 31, 2021

)

By Amanda Montañez and Jen Christiansen, with research by Sabine Devins,

Mariana Surillo and Ashley P. Taylor

LIVES LOST

Data Captured

COV I D’s

Uneven Toll