According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the state hit 10,000 COVID-19-related deaths as of Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021.
That may not seem like a big number — but it is.
So how do you visualize what 10,000 deaths look like?
Populations of cities in the Kansas City area
Several cities around the Kansas City area are comprised of around 10,000 residents. It would be like picturing the entire population of Smithville all gathered together.
- Kearney: 10,858 people
- Smithville: 10,795 people
- Oak Grove: 8,258 people
- Parkville: 7,162 people
- Richmond: 5,685 people
- Odessa: 5,246 people
- Platte City: 4,955 people
- North Kansas City: 4,571 people
- Riverside: 3,505 people
- Buckner: 3,022 people
The capacity of Kansas City event venues
Many of the most popular event venues in Kansas City would be easily filled by 10,000 people. It's like sitting in the back row of Starlight Theatre and seeing the rest of the audience.
- Starlight Theatre: 8,000 people
- Legends Field: 6,537 people
- Cable Dahmer Arena: 5,800 people
- Nelson-Atkins lawn: 2,000 people
- Kauffman Center: 1,800 people
Historically deadly events
COVID-19 in the state of Missouri has been more deadly than some of the most infamous events we've learned about in our history books.
- Galveston Hurricane: 8,000 deaths
- Revolutionary War: 6,800 deaths
- 9/11 terror attack: 2,977 deaths
- Pearl Harbor: 2,390 deaths
- Titanic sinking: 2,240 deaths
- Pompeii explosion: 2,000 deaths
Other ways to visualize 10,000 people
Did you know that 10,000 is far greater than the number of people who visit Tuvalu each year? If you don't know about the island nation of Tuvalu, you're not alone. It's the least-visited country in the world, according to the World Bank.
Speaking of islands, just 11,000 people live on the island nation of Nauru. Missouri has had almost as many people die as live in one country.
If you've been to New York, you know how popular the Statue of Liberty is. It sees 10,000 visitors each day.
And if you want to compare pandemics, Missouri alone has seen almost as many people die as the world saw die of the swine flu in 2009. A total of 12,469 people died of the H1N1 virus globally.
