Visualizing the Covid-19 pandemic with doubling rates

As the popularity of coronavirus data visualizations increases, so does the risk of misinterpreting results. We’ve all heard the term flattening the curve. This catch phrase does a good job of summarizing the goal of pandemic mitigation policies: limit the number of people who are simultaneously infected to avoid straining health care systems. However common the phrase may be, it raises the question: What curve are we trying to flatten? And what do these curves tell us about how well we’re doing?