Why our minds can't make sense of COVID-19's enormous death toll

Why our minds can't make sense of COVID-19's enormous death toll

Why we can’t grasp the toll of COVID-19

The global death toll from COVID-19 is fast approaching one million. Shocking numbers such as this can be difficult to digest for a number of reasons, say psychologists. Human brains aren’t wired to comprehend such big numbers. And counter-intuitively, more tragedy can bring about apathy, a phenomenon called ‘psychic numbing’. The duration of the pandemic can also dull the sense of shock. One way to avoid compassion fatigue is to imagine people with faces and families, says psychologist Paul Slovic. “Someone once observed, ‘Statistics are human beings with the tears dried off’,” he says.

National Geographic | 9 min read