30 April 2020

O/T: COVID-19 in Canada in Context

With deaths from the Coronavirus pandemic topping 3,000 in Canada and forecast to hit the range 3,277 to 3,883 deaths by May 5, where does this pandemic stand in the "league table" of Canada's natural disasters?

This table is based on the data in Wikipedia's List of disasters in Canada by death toll and the latest GoC COVID-19 death statistics

DisasterTypeLocationDeathsDate
Spanish fluPandemicCanadaest 55,0001918 to 1919
Newfoundland HurricaneHurricaneNewfoundland4,0001775
COVID-19PandemicCanada>3,0002020
Cascadia earthquakeEarthquakeBritish Columbiaseveral thousand1700
Tseax Cone eruptionVolcanoBritish Columbia2000~1700
Halifax ExplosionExplosionNova Scotia20001917
RMS Empress of IrelandShipwreckQuebec10121914
RMS AtlanticShipwreckNova Scotia5621873
Swine fluPandemicCanada4282009 to 2010
Duke WilliamShipwreckNear English coast3601758

Will the COVID-19 death toll exceed that of the Newfoundland hurricane of 1775? It's possible the first wave we're currently experiencing might not reach that total. Will there be second and subsequent waves as was the case in 1918-19 when the second wave was the deadliest?

In the context of annual deaths in Canada, here are 2018 statistics from Stats Can.

CauseNumber
Malignant neoplasms79,536
Diseases of heart53,134
Cerebrovascular diseases13,480
Accidents (unintentional injuries)13,290
Chronic lower respiratory diseases12,998
Influenza and pneumonia8,511
Diabetes mellitus6,794
Alzheimer's disease6,429
Intentional self-harm (suicide)3,811
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis3,615
Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis3,514
Assault (homicide)373

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