The average person dying from COVID-19 in Canada is an 86-year-old woman in a nursing home, says a new study..“The COVID-19 mortality rate for the 85 and older age group outpaced the overall increase in the mortality rate,” said a StatsCan report..“To understand both the direct and indirect consequences of the pandemic it is important to measure excess mortality..“For those aged 85 and older, from 2011 to 2019 age-standardized mortality rates fluctuated, but generally declined from 239.8 deaths per 100,000 population in 2011 to 228.9 in 219,” said the report..“Mortality rates for this age group increased by five% to 240.6 deaths per 100,000 population in 2020, marking the highest mortality rate for this age group in Canada since 2010.”.Most pandemic victims were aged 86, typically women in nursing homes, according to a Canadian Institute of Actuaries report..The American Medical Association Journal last December 17 calculated people over 85 were 630 times likelier than the U.S. average to die of COVID-19..StatsCan in an earlier submission to the Commons human resources committee said most deaths involved nursing home patients diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s, chronic heart disease or respiratory illness who “may have been at a higher risk of dying over this period regardless of the pandemic.”.“The majority of Canadians who died from COVID-19 were residents of long-term care homes,” said the StatsCan submission..“Increased COVID-19 deaths may be attributable to the disease taking a heavy toll on people who have been at a high risk of dying” regardless of the pandemic, it said..“An in-depth examination of this issue will be conducted using 2021 Census data. The 2021 Census will show how the pandemic has profoundly altered population growth, sources of income, commuting patterns and many other aspects of our lives.”
