Final answer:
Discussing different death rates during the Black Death helps illustrate the selective mortality and varying vulnerabilities within populations, offering insight into the spread and impact of the pandemic.
Step-by-step explanation:
Discussion of different death rates during the Black Death helps readers understand its spread by revealing the epidemic's selective mortality and the varying susceptibility among different populations. For example, mortality rates for priests were significantly higher, with monthly mortality rates increasing up to forty-five times compared to the pre-epidemic period. Additionally, research into heterogeneous frailty, such as malnutrition and previous exposure to disease, suggests why some individuals were more susceptible than others, hence clarifying overall population impacts and epidemiological patterns. The reconstruction of age-specific mortality patterns also sheds light on the disproportion of deaths across different age groups, challenging the idea that the Black Death killed indiscriminately. This investigation introduces a deeper understanding of how biological and social factors influenced survival during one of history's most devastating pandemics.