The death toll from COVID-19 in Canada can be thousands higher than the official number.

Over 26,000 Canadians COVID-19 (New Coronavirus Infection) According to government statistics, since the pandemic began.

This is a huge number, but researchers say it may not be the whole story.

In a new report published on Tuesday Royal Society of CanadaResearchers estimate that between February 1st and November 28th, 2020, about 6,000 deaths of people over the age of 45 directly caused by COVID-19 were no longer counted in official statistics. I am. In total, the report suggests that about two-thirds of the actual death toll of COVID-19 may have been overlooked.

Dr. Samil Singha, director of geriatrics at Sinai Health and the University Health Network in Toronto, said the report would provide a “clear action call” for better reports of deaths in Canada.

“We’re talking about thousands of Canadians who died silently,” he said. “And their loved ones probably think they died because they had a heart attack, had a stroke, fell, etc. But they don’t know. , Their loved one died in COVID-19. “

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Thousands of deaths in the second half of the pandemic, even if not officially counted, could also be attributed to COVID-19, but researchers find it difficult to estimate this due to poor records management in Canada. Say you are. They want the state to modify data collection to better fight current and future pandemics, said lead research author Tara Moriarty.

According to Moriati, an associate professor of dentistry at the University of Toronto, the information in this report could change our way of thinking about how a pandemic happened in Canada. Thought.

“I think it’s important for people to understand that the number of people who die of COVID-19 outside of long-term care is much higher than we know,” she said. “And it may help people themselves better coordinate their risk of death with their loved ones.”

The report’s authors estimate that most of these countless deaths are likely to have occurred in frail elderly people outside of long-term care facilities that lived in the area.

According to the report, Frail, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are the largest comorbidities for death from COVID-19.

“One of the biggest things we know is that for hospitalized older people, it is not the chronic illness or age that predicts the risk of dying from COVID. It is actually their vulnerability. It’s about sex, “said Dr. Janet McElhoney, co-author of the Science Director of the Health Science North Institute and a professor at Northern Ontario Medical College.

These risks are exacerbated because older people do not always have typical COVID-19 symptoms such as fever, cough, and dyspnea. This can make them and their caregivers less aware that they may need to see a doctor or have a COVID test.

“A common warning to people is that if you have been hypoxic for days (not enough oxygen in your blood), people will start to get confused,” McElhaney said.

The only clue may be some new symptom, even if it is not usually associated with COVID-19. Alternatively, you may have fallen. “So we are waiting for something catastrophic to happen that facilitates a trip to the emergency department, and another is that older people often die before it is actually triggered. And without a positive test, death cannot be counted. “

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This uses cremation data to show that there are far more COVID-19 community deaths than officially reported, and many people are dying at home in Ontario. Consistent with previous reports from the government.

The study authors say that it is not only the elderly in the community who are at increased risk of dying from COVID-19. According to the report, up to 25% of countless deaths could have been people between the ages of 45 and 64, “frontline essential workers, recent migrants, and people living in multigenerational households.”

Recently Statistics Canada Survey Fifty-seven percent of the male Toronto citizens who died of COVID-19 were found to be immigrants, even though only 44% of the male population. According to the study, Canadian immigrants under the age of 65 were particularly more likely to die of COVID-19 than their nonimmigrant peers.

The authors of the study want to improve the way Canada counts COVID-19 deaths. This includes testing all people who die of illness and reporting all deaths in a timely manner, whether COVID-related or not.

Some states took months to publish even basic mortality statistics, and reports were inconsistent across states, Moriarty said. She believes this will prevent COVID-19 from fighting future pandemics.

“For future epidemics and crisis situations, Canada really needs to understand what’s happening in real time with respect to death,” she said.

“We couldn’t do it during the COVID period, which could affect our actions and the measures we chose, and could have been prevented if we collectively knew more. Deaf You probably experienced many deaths. “

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