You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news. Your regular Significant Digits host, Oliver Roeder, is out, so Erin Doherty, FiveThirtyEight’s politics intern, will be taking over for part of this week. (Don’t worry, Oliver will be back.) In the meantime, got a significant digit? Send it along to @erin_dohh.
1,077 cases
The number of measles cases in the United States has reached 1,077, making the current outbreak the worst the country has seen in more than 25 years. Just last week there were 33 recorded cases, 30 of which took place in New York state alone. It’s possible to predict where measles outbreaks are most likely to happen, according to FiveThirtyEight’s Maggie Koerth-Baker, but the government doesn’t do it publicly. [Reuters]
8 million users
That’s how many people are part of Ravelry.com, a social network for knitters and crocheters. The platform made headlines on Sunday after it announced that it was banning any talk of President Trump and his administration to preserve an environment free from hateful expression. “Support of the Trump administration is undeniably support for white supremacy,” the announcement read. [The Washington Post]
Year 2026
The 2026 Winter Olympics will be hosted by two sites in northern Italy, the International Olympic Committee announced Monday. This will be the third time the Winter Olympics will be held in Italy, after the ski resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo hosted the 1956 games and Turin hosted the 2006 games. [The New York Times]
2 penalty kicks
That’s what it took for the U.S. women’s national team to defeat Spain on Monday with a final score of 2-1. The Spanish were the first to get a goal past the USWNT’s defensive line. On Friday the U.S. team will face France in the quarterfinals in one of the most anticipated games of the tournament thus far. The game is essentially a toss-up; FiveThirtyEight gives the U.S. a 54 percent chance of winning. [FiveThirtyEight]
$1.6 trillion
On Monday, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders announced a plan that he says would rid every American of student loan debt. The plan, which would eliminate $1.6 trillion of student loan debt for approximately 45 million people, would be paid for with a tax on Wall Street speculation. [CNN]
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