Friday, September 22, 2023
No Result
View All Result
  • Media
Support Us
Macdonald-Laurier Institute
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
  • Experts
    • Experts Directory
    • In Memoriam
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Health Care
      • Innovation
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Energy Policy
      • Energy
      • Environment
    • Foreign Policy
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs
  • Projects
    • The Great Energy Crisis
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
    • Dragon at the Door
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • Competition Policy in Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Justice Report Card
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Provincial COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
      • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Past Projects
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
      • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
      • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
      • Straight Talk
      • Labour Market Report
      • Leading Economic Indicator
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy
    • Papers
    • Commentary
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Video
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
  • Experts
    • Experts Directory
    • In Memoriam
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Health Care
      • Innovation
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Energy Policy
      • Energy
      • Environment
    • Foreign Policy
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs
  • Projects
    • The Great Energy Crisis
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
    • Dragon at the Door
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • Competition Policy in Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Justice Report Card
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Provincial COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
      • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Past Projects
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
      • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
      • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
      • Straight Talk
      • Labour Market Report
      • Leading Economic Indicator
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy
    • Papers
    • Commentary
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Video
No Result
View All Result
Macdonald-Laurier Institute

Canada’s Disease Misery climbs rapidly in recent weeks, more trouble ahead: MLI COVID Misery Index update

April 14, 2021
in COVID-19, Domestic Policy Program, Economic policy, Health, Latest News, Releases
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A

OTTAWA, ON (April 14, 2021): “Excess deaths” (death rates above the norm) from non-COVID causes are a major explanation for Canada’s poor pandemic performance compared to other advanced countries. That is one of the key conclusions of today’s weekly update of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s COVID Misery Index.

Doctors are warning that Canada’s COVID response has led to a decline in cancer screenings, as well as other critical diagnoses and treatments. That raises the question of whether Canada is making the right trade offs given that COVID is not the only threat to our health.

“New variants of COVID-19 could dampen the optimism coming from the roll-out of vaccines,” writes Richard Audas, a health statistician and the designer of the COVID Misery Index. “In Canada, although the data lags behind other countries, excess death rates remain high and the current public health restrictions will only exacerbate this.”

As well, cases are rising and provincial governments are increasing the severity of lockdowns. This will again hit Canada’s rankings at a time when other countries with better rates of vaccinations are improving by opening up.

MLI’s COVID Misery Index is the only tool available to Canadians to monitor the impact of the virus, and government pandemic measures on the country. It compares 15 peer nations by capturing the impacts on human health in terms of cases, hospitalizations and deaths (our Disease Misery), how government is doing in combatting the virus whether by successfully rolling out vaccinations or by having to resort to lockdown measures (our Response Misery) and the cost in terms of jobs, growth and public finances (our Economic Misery). The Index is updated on a weekly basis, tracking the overall scores throughout the pandemic and analyzing changes over recent weeks.

The most recent update of COVID Misery Index has Canada languishing in 11th place. And a number of key indicators in recent weeks suggest that things are in fact getting worse.

Over the last four weeks, Canada’s Disease Misery performance has been dropping steadily, showing the spread of the disease itself is worsening here relative to other countries.

Looking closer at two particular metrics, Canada has had the worst rates of “excess deaths” among all peer countries for those aged 85+ in recent weeks. Canada also remains among the worst countries for excess deaths among those aged 15+ in recent weeks, even though COVID-related deaths remain low. This suggests that the health care system is suffering more broadly, and other threats to life and health have been exacerbated, including cancer as referenced above.

While Canada’s Disease Misery outlook is worsening, the overall Response Misery has seen a slight improvement. This is mainly due to the fact that we now outpace the average among peers in terms of first vaccinations administered (most will require two doses). In fact, in the last week, Canada’s pace of administering first vaccine doses was only topped by the United States.

However, Canada still places 11th out of 15 in terms of overall full vaccinations. And though we have climbed up marginally from the very worst position in recent weeks, Canada is still 14th in terms of overall Response Misery over the course of the pandemic.

What’s ahead for Canada? “We remain particularly concerned with the elevated rates of excess deaths and the desperate need to improve access to health care for non-COVID-19 related reasons,” notes Audas. “In our next update, we will begin to see the negative impacts of new restrictions imposed in Canada’s most populous provinces.”

For more information, consult the links below.

  • Check out the COVID Misery Index here.
  • Read the update briefing here.
  • Read the written analysis and full methodology here.
  • Download the data for yourself using this link.

Additionally, media are invited to contact:

Brett Byers
Communications and Digital Media Manager
613-482-8327 x105
brett.byers@macdonaldlaurier.ca

Share this:
Tags: COVID Misery IndexCOVID-19economic policyeconomyHealthRichard Audas
Previous Post

If I were finance minister: Philip Cross in the Financial Post

Next Post

Is the Canadian Government Prepared to Stand up to Beijing? Margaret McCuaig-Johnston for the Prospect Foundation

Related Posts

Romanian Energy Minister, Sebastian Burduja, talks energy security with Jonathan Berkshire Miller
Video

Romanian Energy Minister, Sebastian Burduja, talks energy security with Jonathan Berkshire Miller

September 21, 2023
Canada-Japan cooperation to counter China’s disinformation campaigns: Charles Burton for Inside Policy
Columns

It’s time for Canada to implement a foreign policy reset: Stephen Nagy in the Japan Times

September 21, 2023
Covid-19, the test bioethics failed: Tom Koch for Inside Policy
Inside Policy

Covid-19, the test bioethics failed: Tom Koch for Inside Policy

September 21, 2023
Next Post
Canada should show steadfast resolve in dealing with China: Duanjie Chen for Inside Policy

Is the Canadian Government Prepared to Stand up to Beijing? Margaret McCuaig-Johnston for the Prospect Foundation

Newsletter Signup

Follow us on

Macdonald-Laurier Institute

323 Chapel Street, Suite #300
Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 7Z2 Canada

613.482.8327

info@macdonaldlaurier.ca
MLI directory

Support Us

Support the Macdonald-Laurier Institute to help ensure that Canada is one of the best governed countries in the world. Click below to learn more or become a sponsor.

Support Us

  • Inside Policy Magazine
  • Annual Reports
  • Jobs
  • Privacy Policy

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
  • Experts
    • Experts Directory
    • In Memoriam
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Health Care
      • Innovation
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Energy Policy
      • Energy
      • Environment
    • Foreign Policy
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs
  • Projects
    • The Great Energy Crisis
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
    • Dragon at the Door
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • Competition Policy in Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Justice Report Card
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Provincial COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
      • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Past Projects
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
      • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
      • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
      • Straight Talk
      • Labour Market Report
      • Leading Economic Indicator
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy
    • Papers
    • Commentary
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Video

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

IDEAS CHANGE THE WORLD!Have the latest Canadian thought leadership delivered straight to your inbox.
First Name
Last Name
Email address

No thanks, I’m not interested.