Thought of the Day - June 6 2021 - By the Numbers

Well, as you may have seen, frightening numbers came out of Peru this week.

Peru is one of the worst-hit countries in Latin America, with a crippling fresh wave of cases at the beginning of the year. In late May, Peru extended a state of emergency and nationwide lockdown for another month. Peru is heading into an election and as part of the new "come clean" process that many politicians are now pursuing, they decided to conduct a review of the true death toll from COVID in the country ( Thought of the Day - May 28 2021 - Disinformation ). "It [is] our duty to make the updated information public, not only as part of our commitment to transparency but also to comply with our obligations as a State," Prime Minister Bermudez said.

Peru already had one of the world's worst death rates before the government review. Now the death toll has been revised upward by over 180,000. This more than doubles their reported figures to date, meaning that Peru now has the highest "official" death rate in the world by far - with over 5,000 deaths per million people.

This eclipses the previous leader, Hungary. This is ten times the world average. This continues to secure South America as the worst hit by the pandemic.

Moreover, it illustrates the tale of two worlds. Here, in the western world, we complain that COVID numbers are exaggerated, as many "COVID deaths" were really due to comorbidities, and excess deaths are in part due to our obsession with COVID leading to neglect in other areas. However, in many, many countries, the number of deaths are definitely underreported ( Thought of the Day - March 22 2021 - Meanwhile in Russia ); Peru being the latest case in point. Indeed, it is likely that the death toll around the world is now well over five million.

While we continue to celebrate that the end of COVID is in sight, it should be noted that the global death toll in 2021 has already exceeded that of 2020, and it is likely the 2021 figure will be double that of 2020 by the end of the year.

So, this week's shout-out is for the world. Despite our self-centred and selfish approach to COVID here in Canada (typical of the western world), despite the huge global death toll (with many still to come), and despite corrupt politicians (everywhere), people around the world still find a way.

Cheers

Cliff