I happened to read a letter in the newspaper that gave some rather striking statistics about the death rates from COVID-19 in various countries. Turns out they were true.
According to Wikipedia/Our World In Data, Canada's death rate from COVID to date has been 1,424 per million; the USA's has been 3,624 per million, and for the EU as a whole it was 2,831 per million. I'd say that was a statistically significant difference! Countries that observed even tighter controls than Canada showed even better (lower) death rates: New Zealand (884 per million), Japan (597 per million), Singapore (358 per million), etc. Next time someone complains about government overreach during the pandemic, throw that in their face! Vaccinations and public health controls save lives!
I haven't thought too much about COVID in a while, except to get our biannual vaccination, which I did just last week. It wasn't easy to find a vaccination - what a change from the good old bad old days! - but I did eventually track down a Moderna jab. This was not my first preference: I have always had a much worse reaction to Moderna than to Pfizer, but beggars can't be choosers.
Several of the pharmacies I spoke to said that the government either didn't send them any stocks of the new vaccine, or sent so few that they ran out in a couple of days. That's just how it is these days, they griped. It seems ridiculous that I had to jump through so many hoops to get hold of a vaccine that should be part of our regular routine, like the flu jab.
That said, though, it does seem like, at the moment anyway, in the slow period of the year as we now are, there are very few reported/diagnosed/confirmed cases of COVID in our neck of the woods.
No comments:
Post a Comment