The Economist, a 180-year-old newspaper published in Britain, has been tracking deaths from COVID-19. They examine fatalities reported by official sources, but also look for how many people actually died because of the SARS-CoV pandemic.
A lot depends on how “because” is defined:
Many people who die while infected with SARS-CoV-2 are never tested for it, and do not enter the official totals. Conversely, some people whose deaths have been attributed to covid-19 had other ailments that might have ended their lives on a similar timeframe anyway. And what about people who died of preventable causes during the pandemic, because hospitals full of covid-19 patients could not treat them?
…Although the official number of deaths caused by covid-19 is now 7m, our single best estimate is that the actual toll is 27.1m people. We find that there is a 95% chance that the true value lies between 17.9m and 32.9m additional deaths.
The pandemic’s true death toll
Statistics Canada says deaths attributed to unintentional poisonings, including overdoses from legal and and illicit drugs have risen since the beginning of the pandemic. Alcohol-induced mortality has also increased significantly. But even after adjusting for deaths resulting from substance abuse, excess deaths in Canada are worrisome, almost certainly attributable to the virus that has affected us since the beginning of 2020.
For more than three years, the USA was more severely affected than Canada. ABC News reported in 2022 that SARS-CoV death rates in red (Republican ruled) states were 38% higher than in blue (Democratic ruled) states. No doubt that is explained by Republican resistance to vaccines and protective health measures, other than crazy treatments suggested by the capomandamento of America’s largest crime family.
If one looks at reports of past epidemics and pandemics, the numbers have always been imprecise. Deaths in Europe from bubonic plague in the 14th century were somewhere around half the total population. Death estimates from the influenza outbreak of 1918-1920 range between 50 million and 100 million.
While COVID-19 has been devastating, the number of direct fatalities are only a fraction of one percent of the world’s population. For this, we can thank advanced medical care and vaccines. The coronavirus has proven to be incredibly harmful and, despite vaccines, it is likely to be with us for some time.
In the words of the great baseball philosopher Yogi Berra, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
If you find value in posts and dialogue at IN-SIGHTS.CA, please consider financial support. It is a simple process explained HERE.
Categories: Health
in-sights.ca 
The “Eye” has been told by a medical source that the the Covid death toll was much higher than locally reported because it would have proved embarrassing to politicians.
The inaction in the crucial first weeks of the Covid pandemic created the ground work for mass deaths. BC’s first Covid outbreak was traced back a Costco in Bellingham, which then spread to care homes, schools etc.
Former premier Horgan’s snap election also brought with it a spike in deaths, which the NDP still deny.
In the USA it was and still is Covid denial, where Covid deaths were purposely distorted for politcal reasons.
What is still being denied is the long term effect of Covid, which haunts us still and will continue to do so by the anti-vaxers and anti-maskers.
Common sense dictates, if you are sick, stay at home, isolate your self for 48 hours or if one must go out, wear a mask to prevent the spread of the disease.
LikeLike