Thought of the Day - October 31 2021 - By the Numbers

Here we are on All Hallows' Eve - as a friend used to say "Good thing this year Halloween does not fall on Friday the 13th, that would be really scary!".

Today, I thought I would give you my top 10 scary COVID facts:

1. Peru still has the highest per capita level of COVID death of major countries in the world, at nearly 6,000 per million, almost double their nearest competitors Bosnia&Herzegovina, Bulgaria and North Macedonia, which are at around 3,500. Why? In part, because they did a full audit of deaths.

2. Guess which tourist destination is now top of the list in recent deaths? Barbados - first they did not tell the rich and vaccinated to piss off, but moreover, they have been celebrating their secession from the UK a little too much.

3. Alaska, the state that has been most affected by COVID as of late, is being eclipsed by the other "remote" states - Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Utah, Colorado. Will we follow the same path in Canada?

4. Despite the efforts of the western countries, Cuba now has the highest vaccination rate in the world (doses per 100 people).

5. Your chance of getting symptomatic COVID after vaccination is about 1 in 5,000 (according to the New York Times). Your chances of an adverse reaction from a COVID vaccine dose is about 1 in 2,800 (according to the Canadian Government).

6. Those that have visited Switzerland, particularly the German region, know it is one of the most affluent, clean, staid and boring places in the world. However, the country has been having ongoing mass demonstrations against their COVID passport for over six weeks - Canada is actually an exception in not yet having widespread mass demonstrations.

7. Deaths from Canada's fourth wave, which should have been peaking by now, were up 6% over this past week - Ontario, which has been doing so well until now, is the main reason why.

8. Hospitalizations, that are down in every other province across the country, were up almost 20% in BC this week.

9. The world has now reached five million official deaths, but this is only 10% of the number estimated to have died from the Spanish Flu.

10. The most popular new masks for Halloween (besides those from Squid Game) are the Black Plague Long Nose Bird Beak Masks.

Next week we will be back to the numbers. We will focus on the growing issues across Europe, particularly in the east.

Happy Halloweening All Y'All.

Cheers

Cliff