Author suggests pandemic affected responses and contributed to death from heat dome, tainted drugs
The B.C. Health Ministry also pointed to an increase in deaths due to air quality problems caused by wildfire smoke.Article contentThe proportion of excess deaths was 11.4 per cent of all deaths in B.C. The next highest rates for excess deaths in Canada were found in Alberta at 11.1 per cent and Saskatchewan at 10 per cent.
“The three Western provinces certainly stand out in what I looked at as having quite a different experience from the other provinces,” said McGrail told Postmedia. They had high excess mortality rates despite relatively low COVID-19 mortality rates.Article content McGrail’s paper said provinces differed on how to classify COVID deaths: Some reported those who died “from” COVID-19, meaning COVID was the primary cause of death. Other provinces reported those who died “with” COVID-19, meaning they were infected, but their cause of death was something else.
The B.C. Health Ministry, in an emailed statement, also noted that Statistics Canada uses 2019 deaths for modelling “excess” deaths and B.C. had a low death rate that year.