Why Canada has done so much better than the US in COVID terms

The next time somebody tries to persuade you that an American-style profit-driven healthcare system is better than Canada's universal-access publicly-funded system - and some people do genuinely believe that - just direct them towards this article: Why is Canada's COVID death rate so much lower than US?

The US has nearly 9 times the population of Canada, so comparisons are not always obvious or easy. In many ways, the two countries are quite comparable, in terms of income disparities, territorial divides and co-morbidities like obesity and hypertension, for example. But, per capita (or per million), America's daily cases are consistently more than double those of Canada, the ICU rate is over three times higher, and the death rate is a staggering twenty-five times more. And this, remember, is per capita, i.e. taking out the discrepancy in population size.

So, what is going on here. Well, Canada's COVID vaccination rates are much better (notwithstanding the truckers' protests), with around 80% of the whole population now fully vaccinated, compared to about 65% in the USA, with another 5% partially vaccinated (12% in the USA). Canada's vaccine mandates have been stricter and have lasted longer, and Canadians are generally speaking more likely to adhere to public policies (again, "Freedom Convoy" notwithstanding). And bear in kind that, according to recent CDC figures, the unvaccinated are 14 times more likely to die than someone with two doses of the vaccine, and a whopping 68 times more likely to die than a triple-vaccinated person.

And then, of course, Canada has a universal health insurance system that allows anyone and everyone to receive hospital treatment regardless of income or background or location, and the Canadian healthcare system has typically intervened earlier and more comprehensively in acute cases than in America. 

So, there you have it, from the horse's (BBC's) mouth.