Constant media updates on the coronavirus could actually be stopping people from properly understanding the outbreak. Here's why.

Ahn Young-joon/AP

• Updates on new deaths and infections of the novel coronavirus have been coming thick and fast from media outlets as the outbreak becomes an ever-increasing news story.
• But this constant stream of numbers could actually be doing more harm than good, a statistics expert told Business Insider.
• Professor John Allen Paulos compared media reporting on incremental changes in the number of deaths and infections to driving a Porsche with oversensitive steering: "A tiny little turn to the left and you end up making a U-turn."
• Instead, people need a "higher perch from which to look at the numbers," he said.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The novel coronavirus is dominating the news agenda worldwide, with many media outlets — including Business Insider — scrambling to keep readers informed with newly-recorded infection rates, deaths, and hotspots.

But constant new numbers and statistics on infections and deaths aren't necessarily helping the public understand the crisis — and could even present a danger to this understanding, a statistics expert told Business Insider.See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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See Also:

• The coronavirus death toll has surpassed 2,800, with more than 82,000 infected. Here's everything we know about the outbreak.
• A statistics expert slammed the Trump administration's statements on the coronavirus as misleading, and accused him of downplaying the outbreak so he could get reelected
• A city in Hubei, China, is giving residents $1,400 if they report their coronavirus symptoms to doctors and then test positive