Knowing an astroid took out the entire continent tells you something about the repairability, resources required to fix the problem, and generally provides context for later updates, as opposed to other contexts like a cut fiber line, a burning datacenter or a bad power supply.

"No" vs "No, I already have plans with X"

First case gives you all the information needed (denial), however in the second case I understand the situation much better. I wouldn't call the text on the status page meaningless though - it's pretty nice and concise already (which is what you want in a "crisis"). Just some brief description of the problem would be good, even though technically unnecessary.

you're right, there's no additional actionable information there, the status page contains everything i actually need to know. but a bit more information makes me feel better. I guess the difference is your comment reassures me that you actually know what's going on. the status page text (prior to the 14:31 update) could equally mean "we've got this under control" or "shit's broken and we don't know why"