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Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/pandemic-death-retractions-1.6576721
Alarming 2021 pandemic death counts in New Brunswick retracted
Statistics Canada makes drastic revisions to province's excess mortality estimates
Robert Jones · CBC News · Posted: Sep 09, 2022 6:00 AM AT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago
Stunning estimates released by Statistics Canada earlier this year showing that hundreds of people more than normal died in New Brunswick during the summer and fall of 2021 have been discarded by the agency.
It is now reporting the opposite — that in New Brunswick in 2021 hundreds fewer people than normal died.
It's a major swing in a critical pandemic measurement that has surprised health and data professionals and generated calls for a detailed explanation from all government agencies involved.
Tara Moriarty, an associate professor and infectious disease researcher at the University of Toronto, has been tracking the issue of "excess mortality" across Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. She is baffled by what's happened with New Brunswick's numbers.
"I've never seen this before. I've never seen it," Moriarty said of a sudden drop in New Brunswick death counts.
"The province and Statistics Canada need to explain."
In July Statistics Canada released estimates showing 8,138 people had passed away in New Brunswick during the first 50 weeks of 2021.
The number shattered previous records and was calculated to be 567 more deaths than would be expected in a normal, non-pandemic year. ..
Alarming 2021 pandemic death counts in New Brunswick retracted
Statistics Canada makes drastic revisions to province's excess mortality estimates
Robert Jones · CBC News · Posted: Sep 09, 2022 6:00 AM AT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago
Stunning estimates released by Statistics Canada earlier this year showing that hundreds of people more than normal died in New Brunswick during the summer and fall of 2021 have been discarded by the agency.
It is now reporting the opposite — that in New Brunswick in 2021 hundreds fewer people than normal died.
It's a major swing in a critical pandemic measurement that has surprised health and data professionals and generated calls for a detailed explanation from all government agencies involved.
Tara Moriarty, an associate professor and infectious disease researcher at the University of Toronto, has been tracking the issue of "excess mortality" across Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. She is baffled by what's happened with New Brunswick's numbers.
"I've never seen this before. I've never seen it," Moriarty said of a sudden drop in New Brunswick death counts.
"The province and Statistics Canada need to explain."
In July Statistics Canada released estimates showing 8,138 people had passed away in New Brunswick during the first 50 weeks of 2021.
The number shattered previous records and was calculated to be 567 more deaths than would be expected in a normal, non-pandemic year. ..
