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CANADIAN COVID-19 DEATH TOLL FAR EXCEEDS OFFICIAL REPORTS, ACCORDING TO ANALYSIS

Alex Cyr
Published June 30, 2021

This article was published more than 6 months ago. Some information may no
longer be current.

In Tuesday’s analysis, the researchers say an estimated 6,000 deaths caused by
COVID-19 in Canadian residents 45 and older have been unaccounted for between
the months of February and November, 2020.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

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Canada’s COVID-19 death toll could be more than twice as high as previously
reported, with those living in low-income, high-density or racialized
neighbourhoods accounting for a large proportion of missed cases, according to a
new analysis of excess mortality rates.

The analysis, commissioned by the Royal Society of Canada, an organization made
up of top Canadian researchers from different disciplines, and released on
Tuesday, suggests the death toll outside of long-term care homes far exceeds
official reports. It also calls on the federal and provincial governments to
improve how they report deaths – currently, according to the researchers, a
“slow, patchwork system” – so Canada can be better prepared for the next
pandemic.

The researchers are also recommending that all people who die in Canada be
tested for the novel coronavirus and that a task force be set up to look into
why so many COVID-19 deaths have been missed.

Is the COVID-19 pandemic over yet? We can’t say with certainty

The marvel of COVID-19 vaccines are giving Canada this thing called ‘good news’
on the pandemic front

In April, The Globe and Mail reported on data showing the death toll from
COVID-19 during the first nine months of the pandemic was inadvertently
undercounted in some provinces, particularly in Western Canada.

In Tuesday’s analysis, the researchers say an estimated 6,000 deaths caused by
COVID-19 in Canadian residents 45 and older have been unaccounted for between
the months of February and November, 2020.

Estimated excess death rates compared to reported COVID-19 death rates

Rate per 100,000, Feb. 1 to Nov. 14, 2020

Estimated range of excess death rate*

COVID-19 death rate

Canada vs. other high-income nations

with populations over 25 million

150

50

100

0

Spain

Britain

U.S.

Italy

France

Canada

Germany

Australia

Japan

S. Korea

Taiwan

Canadian regions

50

100

150

0

Que.

Ont.

Man.

Alta.

B.C.

Sask.

Atlantic and

territories

*Calculated from reported weekly deaths for Feb. 1–Nov. 15, 2020, compared to
deaths during corresponding weeks of 2015–2019.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA

Estimated excess death rates compared to reported COVID-19 death rates

Rate per 100,000, Feb. 1 to Nov. 14, 2020

Estimated range of excess death rate*

COVID-19 death rate

Canada vs. other high-income nations

with populations over 25 million

150

50

100

0

Spain

Britain

U.S.

Italy

France

Canada

Germany

Australia

Japan

S. Korea

Taiwan

Canadian regions

50

100

150

0

Que.

Ont.

Man.

Alta.

B.C.

Sask.

Atlantic and

territories

*Calculated from reported weekly deaths for Feb. 1–Nov. 15, 2020, compared to
deaths during corresponding weeks of 2015–2019.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA

Estimated excess death rates compared to reported COVID-19 death rates

Rate per 100,000, Feb. 1 to Nov. 14, 2020

Estimated range of excess death rate*

COVID-19 death rate

Canada vs. other high-income nations with populations over 25 million

150

50

100

0

Spain

Britain

U.S.

Italy

France

Canada

Germany

Australia

Japan

S. Korea

Taiwan

Canadian regions

50

100

150

0

Que.

Ont.

Man.

Alta.

B.C.

Sask.

Atlantic and

territories

*Calculated from reported weekly deaths for Feb. 1–Nov. 15, 2020, compared to
deaths during corresponding weeks of 2015–2019.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA

The researchers estimate if Canada continued to miss mortalities at the same
rate throughout the country’s second and third waves, the national death toll
would have been close to 57,000 people by early June, 2021. That would be more
than double the latest official COVID-19 death toll, which was 26,237 as of
Monday evening.

“It’s essential to document [the deaths] to give value to the lives, for one
thing – but also to exactly understand where we missed things,” said Tara
Moriarty, a professor of laboratory medicine and pathobiology at the University
of Toronto who was the analysis’s lead author.

The researchers looked at Canada’s excess deaths – the number of deaths beyond
what is expected in a specific period – during the first nine months of the
pandemic and found they vastly exceeded the number of reported COVID-19 deaths.
At the same time, the researchers were struck by the high proportion of COVID-19
deaths in long-term care homes. In Canada, such deaths were twice as prevalent,
relative to deaths in other populations, as they were in similar countries.

Estimated excess deaths compared to reported COVID-19 deaths in Canada, by age
group
Feb. 1–Nov. 18, 2020
 Estimated excess deaths
 Reported COVID-19 deaths
02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00045 to 6465 to 8445 to 8485+ years1625228
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: the royal society of canadA; NOTE: excess death
estimates are Adjusted for deaths caused by toxic drug use such as opioids.
data
share
×

Age groupEstimated excess deathsReported COVID-19 deaths45 to 64162522865 to
847672330345 to 849297353185+ years 76559628


ESTIMATED EXCESS DEATHS COMPARED TO REPORTED COVID-19 DEATHS IN CANADA, BY AGE
GROUP

download csv
×


SHARE THIS CHART:




https://s3.amazonaws.com/chartprod/fKQsW9EFxPZHYmAQ6/thumbnail.png

Both anomalies could be traced to the same source, the researchers believed:
Canada was failing to detect deaths from COVID-19 that happened outside of
long-term care homes, where frequent outbreaks may have led to more intensive
testing and more accurate infection counts.

The analysis points to some of the reasons infections outside of long-term care
may not have been counted, including low testing rates and large data gaps in
death reports from most provinces.



By May 17, 2021, according to the analysis, Canada had performed 25 tests for
every positive COVID-19 case since the start of the pandemic, compared with a
cumulative average of 98 tests for every positive case in all other Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The researchers
estimate a lack of testing could have led Canada to miss three-quarters of its
COVID-19 cases.

The analysis also suggests Canada trailed peer countries in the speed and
accuracy of postmortem testing. Unlike in all other OECD countries, Canada has
no legal requirement to report all of its deaths and their causes within a week,
which made it difficult for Canadian authorities to ascertain that people were
dying of COVID-19 as it was happening.

Even in cases when COVID-19 was detected, the researchers say it wasn’t always
appropriately stated as a cause of death. They estimate that death reports
listing the virus as a comorbidity, and not the main cause of death, could have
accounted for about 30 per cent of excess deaths unattributed to COVID-19 by the
end of the first wave.

Variations in how each province reported its mortalities probably made death
rates between provinces appear much more disparate than they actually were, the
researchers say. Quebec’s proficiency in testing was part of the reason it
appeared to have three times Canada’s COVID-19 deaths per capita, they say, when
the province probably had closer to to twice the deaths.

Meanwhile, slow reporting in the first wave could have contributed to making the
cumulative number of deaths in the Prairies, the Northwest Territories and
Atlantic Canada appear six times smaller than actual in people 40 years and
over, while in British Columbia and Yukon the number could be four times higher
than previously thought.

Some excess deaths could have occurred in elderly people living outside of
long-term care homes, who died of the coronavirus without a caregiver or proper
diagnosis to report or detect the virus, said Janet McElhaney, a geriatrician at
the North Research Institute, who co-authored the analysis.

“Many of those deaths we missed are probably frail older people that really
became disconnected from their communities because of social isolation,” she
said.

But the affected groups may have extended far beyond the elderly. The analysis
posits economically precarious, racialized individuals were more vulnerable to
the virus, because of poor social supports, dangerous work conditions,
high-density living and language barriers in medical treatment.

“It’s a product of systemic racism,” said analysis co-author and public-health
professional Eemaan Thind. “We need to provide more social assistance for
communities facing the disproportionate burden ... things such as paid sick
days.”

The risk of working in large congregate settings was also widely underestimated
in Canada, said journalist and analysis co-author Nora Loreto. Some of the
country’s biggest outbreaks happened in workplaces.

“Long after workplace outbreaks,” Ms. Loreto said, “it was still being spoken
about as if [COVID-19] was completely contained and there was no evidence of
workplace spread. We weren’t testing these people.”

Dr. Moriarty said it is now critical to perform COVID-19 tests on people who die
in any setting countrywide so we can better understand which demographics are
particularly vulnerable to the virus. She said it is also important to work
urgently to protect those most at risk by implementing intensive, frequent and
accessible testing. She also called for improved public-health outreach and
information, and for at-risk communities to be among the highest-priority
recipients for both doses of COVID-19 vaccines, as inoculation becomes available
for everybody.

She added she believes the health system works best for those who are well paid,
highly educated and upper-middle class. “That does not reflect the lives of the
majority of Canadians,” she said.

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