Neuer Höchstwert am Wochenende
Tatsächlich droht die Situation, zunehmend außer Kontrolle zu geraten.
These two motifs have been endlessly reproduced since the spring: x locale has just experienced a record number of Covid cases/deaths. The situation threatens to get out of control. You see this over and over and over again regardless of the name or language of the publication, the size or nationality of the location that is named.
Why is a new „record“ continually newsworthy? Who, where, possesses a legitimate claim to having Covid under control? China? New Zealand? What is the effect on people consuming news media to continually be deluged with headlines about new record numbers? I’ve largely stopped reading the articles behind these headlines myself, only skimming to see what measures may affect me: what borders are closed/reopened, what mask requirements on the street are imposed/lifted. The numbers themselves have largely lost meaning. The fact that some particular figure constitutes a „record“, or a „new record“ has never been of more than dubious value.
