Are we wondering about the geographic spread of the virus? How contagious it is? How deadly it is in a particular population? So many different questions that require different data to answer.

The number of positive cases is very important in telling us how and where the virus is spreading - although it should be noted that it will probably *never* be truly accurate to real life, even when testing is more widespread. And, of course, it doesn't tell us much about other concerns - how deadly the virus is, for example.

The "death rate" that everyone has fixated on is *not* now, nor ever will be, a statistically accurate and reliable figure, because we will probably never know the true denominator. But trending deaths per day gives us a good idea of how much the virus is wrecking havoc in a particular place and time period.