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Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/canada-covid-19-excess-deaths-1.6084595
COVID-19 deaths in Canada may be 2 times higher than reported, study finds
Researchers say extent of 'likely missed' deaths varies by province, major data gaps in available data
Amy Smart · The Canadian Press · Posted: Jun 29, 2021 2:38 PM ET | Last Updated: June 29
A new study suggests Canada has vastly underestimated how many people have died from COVID-19 and says the number could be two times higher than reported.
Tara Moriarty, working group lead for the study commissioned by the Royal Society of Canada, said in an interview while most accounts have put the majority of deaths in long-term care, the new data analysis suggests the toll of COVID-19 was also heavily felt outside the homes, in the community.
Many of those deaths likely occurred in lower income, racialized communities and affected essential workers, new immigrants and people living in multigenerational homes, as well as clinically frail seniors living at home, the study says.
"If we'd had some sense early on of who was dying where, if we had had a sense of just how many deaths were actually occurring … maybe people would have started looking sooner or listening sooner to people in communities who were saying, 'It's really, really bad here; people are dying,"' Moriarty said.
"It might have provided support for those claims that might have caused some kind of action that would have saved lives."
Moriarty said seeing Canada out of step with similar high-income countries on the proportion of long-term care deaths was a red flag that inspired the analysis by the society...
COVID-19 deaths in Canada may be 2 times higher than reported, study finds
Researchers say extent of 'likely missed' deaths varies by province, major data gaps in available data
Amy Smart · The Canadian Press · Posted: Jun 29, 2021 2:38 PM ET | Last Updated: June 29
A new study suggests Canada has vastly underestimated how many people have died from COVID-19 and says the number could be two times higher than reported.
Tara Moriarty, working group lead for the study commissioned by the Royal Society of Canada, said in an interview while most accounts have put the majority of deaths in long-term care, the new data analysis suggests the toll of COVID-19 was also heavily felt outside the homes, in the community.
Many of those deaths likely occurred in lower income, racialized communities and affected essential workers, new immigrants and people living in multigenerational homes, as well as clinically frail seniors living at home, the study says.
"If we'd had some sense early on of who was dying where, if we had had a sense of just how many deaths were actually occurring … maybe people would have started looking sooner or listening sooner to people in communities who were saying, 'It's really, really bad here; people are dying,"' Moriarty said.
"It might have provided support for those claims that might have caused some kind of action that would have saved lives."
Moriarty said seeing Canada out of step with similar high-income countries on the proportion of long-term care deaths was a red flag that inspired the analysis by the society...