Q: Canada's Public Health Agency states Canada's public health system is prepared. Since the outset, the Public Health Agency of Canada (along with public health authorities at all levels of government across the country) have been working together to ensure that our preparedness and response measures are appropriate and adaptable, based on the latest science and the evolving situation. With 717 deaths officially reported in Canada as of Sunday afternoon how does the government justify this statement?
Q: Canada's Public Health Agency states Canada's Chief Public Health Officer of Canada is in close contact with provincial and territorial Chief Medical Officers of Health to ensure that any cases of COVID-19 occurring in Canada continue to be rapidly identified and managed in order to protect the health of Canadians.
With delays of days in reporting test results, testing being limited, and some deaths not being reported unless they occur in hospitals, how does the government justify this statement?
While I don't doubt the agency is doing what it can under the circumstances these kinds of obvious cosy half-truths do nothing to lend credibility.
Same in USA. If there are no tests done then there are no confirmed cases. Nothing to worry about. How easy is that?
ReplyDeleteSome very good and pertinent questions John. I think numbers across the world are going to be incorrect due to incorrect reporting.
ReplyDeleteI do wonder why we aren't testing more. I read a comparison of Germany and the UK yesterday. Their timelines are almost identical yet Germany has fewer deaths. Here are some interesting stats for the two.
ReplyDeleteTotal number of cases: Germany 128.048, Uk 88,621
New Cases (13 Apr): Germany 194, UK 4342
Active Cases: Germany 60,716, UK 76,948
Total Deaths: Germany 3.032, UK 11,329
Deaths per 1M population: Germany 36, UK 167
Tests per 1M population: Germany 15,730, UK 5,416
The article indicated that it was the strong testing and tracing of contacts in Germany that made the huge difference in the number of deaths. UK made very little attempt to test and trace contacts. Since other factors (government shut downs etc.) were very similar, it would seem that we should be doing as much testing as physically possible with follow up tracing of contacts. As far as I can tell, Ontario still isn't testing as much as they can and I haven't heard a good reason why.
Source for stats: worldometer: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/