Thought of the Day - December 6 - By the Numbers

This week let's look at some more novel presentation of COVID data, as well as see what has changed since the kid have gone back to school.

Top countries in total official cases over time:

This web site graphically and audibly depicts COVID-19 Cases and Deaths around the world in real time:

https://covidloader.com/

And let's see how things have changed from the start of the latest wave four months ago, here in Canada.

As you can see the number of cases has more that doubled since August.

Even more in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Death rates have not done as badly.

In addition active rates across Canada are still way up, indicating we are not near the end of the current wave (like we were in late August).

When you look at where the new cases are originating not a lot has changed since the start of this wave. Other than the east faring slightly better and the west worse.

Looking at where the deaths per capita have been coming from the picture is a little different. Manitoba has had the worst of it, Quebec continues with its poor track record, and Alberta has most than doubled its death rate. On the other hand Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia have turned things around.

Looking at mortality rates, things have improved across the board, except for Manitoba. The provinces of BC, Ontario and Quebec have made the most improvement.

That said, unlike what is implied in the press, it is still true that if you are diagnosed with COVID-19 more likely to die in Canada that the USA. We have however closed the gap over the last four months, down from 40% more likely, down to 25% more likely to die.

Looking at it one final way, here is the comparison of my guesstimate of what percentage of the population has been infected. In short, you are more than twice as likely to have been infected by now in the USA than in Canada.

Sorry no shout-out this week. Even a few of the provinces that were looking good in comparison at the end of November are still slipping.

Cheers

Cliff