Thought of the Day - July 11 2021 - By the Numbers

Things are not looking too rosy around the world. While deaths remain consistent (at around 50,000 a week), new cases around the world increased by over 10% in the past week (now approaching 3M a week).

And while things are improving in South America, all other continents are now seeing significant growth in cases.

Guess which countries had the highest new cases per capita this past week?

• British Virgin Islands (by far - they have seen a 350% increase over the past week, they are also #6 in deaths per capita);

• The Seychelles;

• Fiji;

• Cyprus.

And what do they have in common? Yes, they are all tourist destinations. More on this tomorrow.

Here in Canada all metrics improved over the past week. However, not unexpectedly, we are now starting to plateau.

Even in the Yukon, Canada's hot spot, continues to see improvement, now under 30 times as many new cases as the rest of Canada.

CTV has been reporting on variants of concern, including Delta (India, B1.617.2) (even if Health Canada has been unable to do so.) They report that the Delta variant, while not yet really dominant in Canada, is now the fastest growing. Of course now there is also Lambda (Peru, C.37) to worry about - 11 cases reported in Canada so far.

As world vaccinations fast approach 3.5B doses. This translates to 25% of the world as having received at least one dose. Canada now ranks twelfth in the world in vaccinations per capita.

Canada's second vaccinations (not supposed to say "fully vaccinated") are continuing apace. Set to come close to the percentage of first vaccinations, which are now stalled at just under 70%, by the end of July.

This week's shout-out goes to British Columbia. In Canada, we have the lowest per capita daily case and death counts outside the Atlantic Provinces, and looking south of the border we are only edged out by the State of Vermont.

Cheers

Cliff