Mask mandate to stay till mid-May
Quebec is extending the mask mandate to mid-May. The latest new death number is 38 and Quebec will soon notch 15,000 deaths from the coronavirus, but we’re all so jaded by now that this is the new normal.
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Kate
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mare 17:04 on 2022-04-21 Permalink
I really want to know why Quebec’s mortality rate per million is so high compared to Canada’s average and other countries. Is our population in worse health to begin with?
DeWolf 18:32 on 2022-04-21 Permalink
It’s likely that other jurisdictions have seriously underreported their Covid deaths. An audit recently found that New York undercounted its nursing home deaths by 4100 and in summer 2021 the New York Times reported that the state’s overall Covid death toll was being underreported by 11,000 (!).
The Toronto Star also recently reported that Ontario has been undercounting its Covid deaths.
Shanghai has miraculously only had three deaths since being swamped by Omicron, even though there are reports that it is ravaging nursing homes the same way it did elsewhere. By contrast, Hong Kong reported 9,000 deaths during its recent Omicron wave.
Everybody rolled their eyes when François Legault claimed Quebec was being “more Catholic than the pope” in reporting its Covid deaths, but funnily enough the evidence seems to support his claim…
Kevin 18:35 on 2022-04-21 Permalink
I’m doing some depressing math and I’m hoping there’s an error somewhere.
In 2020, about 8226 Quebecers died of Covid. Gazette article from Jan 1, 2021 https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/quebec-surpasses-total-of-200000-covid-19-cases-on-new-years-eve
By the end of 2021, we were at a total of 11,781, or a yearly death rate of about 3,555 https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-covid-19-deaths-jump-by-21-as-cases-rise-by-14-494-1.5727002
So if we’re at 14,778 now, that’s about 3,000 dead so far this year, that means in four, maybe five months the so-called ‘milder’ Delta and Omicron and BA2 have killed as many people as all of last year, give or take.
Please tell me where I’m wrong.
mare 19:26 on 2022-04-21 Permalink
@Kevin no, you’re not wrong. 🙁
I use the tool at https://datagraver.com/corona/#/ with which you can track not only countries but also provinces. And it confirms that our cumulative death toll went up from 11760 on 3 January to 14740 now.
@DeWolf using the same tool I can see the mortality rate per million is 1737 in Quebec, and only 620 in British Columbia.
And even compared to The Netherlands, where they had an immense number of cases after they removed all measures in January, we’re doing really bad, since they only had 1288 deaths per million. And they’re very good at counting because they have a continuous census, since everyone has to be registered with the government.
Joey 14:43 on 2022-04-22 Permalink
What about comparing excessive deaths per capital? Wouldn’t that eliminate inconsistencies across jurisdictions?
Tee Owe 14:56 on 2022-04-22 Permalink
@Kevin – maybe it has to do with the denominator being higher – if ommicron/BA2 are way more infectious then way more people catch them. if some proportion of those infected die and the number infected goes way up then even if that proportion is small, the absolute number of deaths also goes up. A small proportion of a big number can also be a big number, as we read everywhere. Does that help?
Tee Owe 15:00 on 2022-04-22 Permalink
Oh I forgot, my better half suggested we should look at deaths with Covid versus deaths because of Covid – not every system distinguishes them and this can lead to discrepancies between what’s reported in different places
Kevin 16:31 on 2022-04-22 Permalink
Tee Owe
Oh, I know the reason– the infection rate skyrocketed after Legault told people in early December that they might be able to have 20 people over for dinner, despite Delta already hitting other countries. And dropping masks in schools and elsewhere as Omicron/Ba2 arrived in Jan/Feb also contributed.
It’s just sad.