The excess death rate from March 14, 2020 to Oct. 30, 2021 was more than 75. The province’s numbers were much larger than N.S. (about -20), P.E.I. (about -90), and N.L. (about 40). Possible explanations for these figures include when pandemic rules were introduced and later lifted, how COVID-19 numbers were reported and whether there were other public health crises occurring at the time, such as spikes in drug overdoses. Other key point from the report include:
- Deaths attributed to COVID-19 varied across provinces, as did COVID-19 deaths as a percentage of excess deaths; and
- Potential explanations for the variations include differences in data reporting and in pandemic responses across provinces, as well as compounding effects of other public health crises.
The study said an effective system response to health threats requires more consistent and comprehensive reporting of data across jurisdictions and a collective forensic analysis of reasons for observed variations. Statistics Canada defines excess deaths as the difference between the expected number of deaths in one time period, versus the actual number of deaths.
Related:
'Excess' deaths in N.B. during pandemic need study, expert says - CBC News