The numbers are out there for all to see, and they are shocking. Thousands of people have died from COVID-19 in our country and around the world.
But like any set of facts, the virus numbers--deaths, total cases, tests, you name it--are subject to debate. Health experts insist the American death toll is probably higher than what is reported, while other voices insist the numbers are inflated.
John Allen Paulos at Temple University in Philadelphia is a mathematician and an observer of the ways in which people use and abuse numbers. He visits with his thoughts on the true impacts of the novel coronavirus, and the impacts of varied interpretations of the numbers.