How BC's COVID-19 Response Stacks Up Against the Rest of the World
By Western standards, the response has been a miracle; by Pacific Rim standards, it’s been a disaster
Next week, BC will begin the process of tentatively reopening civic life. Although the coronavirus is nowhere near defeated, provincial data has been showing for weeks that it is in retreat. As The Capital has previously covered, BC’s low rate of infection and death has made it the envy of Central Canada, as well as hard-hit regions just over the US border.
But while BC may have fared better than New York, Belgium, Quebec or Washington State, below we tallied the numbers to show that our battle with COVID-19 has been far from perfect.
COVID-19 deaths by province
Created with Raphaël 2.1.2
0
X
1,000
2,000
3,000
89
Alberta
111
British Columbia
6
Manitoba
0
New Brunswick
3
Newfoundland and Labrador
28
Nova Scotia
1,082
Ontario
0
Prince Edward Island
1,859
Quebec
6
Saskatchewan
3,184
Canada
Data current as of April 30, 2020
As covered before, most of Canada’s COVID-19 deaths are occurring in Ontario and Quebec care homes. Although BC was only the second province after Ontario to record a confirmed case, along with Alberta it has dodged the skyrocketing death rates of Montreal and Toronto. By avoiding a similar death rate BC has kept untold hundreds from being taken by the pandemic.
COVID-19 deaths, BC vs. US states
Created with Raphaël 2.1.2
Wyoming
Wyoming
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
111
BC
3,184
Canada
260
Alabama
9
Alaska
254
Arizona
59
Arkansas
1,887
California
766
Colorado
2,168
Connecticut
152
Delaware
1,218
Florida
1,054
Georgia
16
Hawaii
60
Idaho
2,215
Illinois
1,065
Indiana
148
Iowa
125
Kansas
235
Kentucky
1,845
Louisiana
53
Maine
1,140
Maryland
3,405
Massachusetts
3,670
Michigan
343
Minnesota
250
Mississippi
318
Missouri
16
Montana
68
Nebraska
237
Nevada
66
New Hampshire
6,770
New Jersey
112
New Mexico
22,759
New York
354
North Carolina
19
North Dakota
937
Ohio
214
Oklahoma
101
Oregon
2,195
Pennsylvania
251
Rhode Island
203
South Carolina
13
South Dakota
192
Tennessee
732
Texas
46
Utah
47
Vermont
552
Virginia
801
Washington
40
West Virginia
308
Wisconsin
7
Wyoming
Data current as of April 30, 2020
In only weeks, the United States went from a passive spectator of COVID-19 to its undisputed Ground Zero. This is particularly true of New York City; COVID-19 has now killed four times as many New Yorkers as the September 11th attacks.But just as in Canada, in the United States COVID-19 has primarily been an urban phenomenon. Without Vancouver, BC would be recording the rock bottom rates of a Wyoming or a Kansas.
COVID-19 deaths, BC vs. Western Europe
Created with Raphaël 2.1.2
0
X
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
111
BC
3,184
Canada
7,207
Belgium
6,126
Germany
23,293
France
23,521
Spain
26,977
Italy
1,102
Ireland
4,518
Netherlands
21,092
United Kingdom
2,274
Sweden
205
Norway
1,665
Switzerland
427
Denmark
193
Finland
Data current as of April 30, 2020
There is almost no European country that wouldn’t trade COVID-19 death rates with BC. Even a relative success story such as Germany is seeing four times more citizens killed by the virus than BC. Sweden, most notably, has a death rate almost exactly ten times that of BC. The Scandinavian country has become famous for leaving its economy largely untouched by its COVID-19 response; aside from banning large gatherings and locking down vulnerable populations, Sweden has left restaurants, bars and barber shops open.
COVID-19 deaths, BC vs. Countries of the G20
Created with Raphaël 2.1.2
0
X
20,000
40,000
111
BC
3,184
Canada
83
Australia
144
Saudi Arabia
56,259
United States
939
India
794
Russia
90
South Africa
2,900
Turkey
197
Argentina
4,603
Brazil
1,434
Mexico
23,293
France
6,126
Germany
26,977
Italy
21,092
United Kingdom
4,643
China
765
Indonesia
385
Japan
244
South Korea
Data current as of April 30, 2020
It’s when ranking Canada against the rest of G20 that one begins to see the first signs that COVID-19 need not necessarily have been as destructive as it was. Among large economies, BC and Canada are in the middle of the pack. There are a few reasons for this: Canadians are disproportionately older and thus more likely to die from COVID-19, and given our relatively small population it only takes a few major outbreaks to significantly affect national data. The likes of China and India, by contrast, can absorb thousands of deaths with it barely affecting their overall death rate. Still; both of those factors are also true for fellow G20ers such as Australia and South Korea.
COVID-19 deaths, BC vs. Countries of between 4.5 million and 6 million population
Created with Raphaël 2.1.2
0
X
500
1,000
111
BC
19
New Zealand
1,102
Ireland
10
Oman
6
Costa Rica
205
Norway
18
Slovakia
193
Finland
427
Denmark
14
Singapore
Data current as of April 30, 2020
The above chart ranks BC against countries around the world who share a similar population (which, for our purposes, is between 4.5 million and 6 million people). Here again we’re middle of the pack; in way better shape than our English-speaking Atlantic neighbour Ireland, but lagging significantly behind countries in Central America, Asia, the Middle East and Central Europe.
COVID-19 deaths, BC vs. Pacific Rim countries
Created with Raphaël 2.1.2
0
X
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
111
BC
3,184
Canada
83
Australia
19
New Zealand
511
Philippines
765
Indonesia
0
Vietnam
4,643
China
4,512
China (Hubei)
4
Hong Kong
244
South Korea
385
Japan
14
Singapore
6
Taiwan
99
Malaysia
Data current as of April 30, 2020
The countries surrounding China have been models of pandemic success. Despite having far less warning than Canada, it was ironically the countries nearest to the epicentre of COVID-19 that would weather the storm best. Travel bans were much stricter, contact tracing was more aggressive and public masking and social distancing was in place as early as January. Australia and New Zealand have an advantage over Canada in that they don’t share a massive border with the world’s hardest-hit country, but for everyone else in this chart the success was largely one of policy and preparation.
COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths, Vancouver Island vs. top performing countries
Created with Raphaël 2.1.2
0
X
50
100
150
200
4
Vancouver Island
83
Australia
19
New Zealand
6
Taiwan
4
Hong Kong
204
Israel
14
Singapore
Data current as of April 30, 2020
BC’s COVID-19 cases remain almost exclusively localized to Vancouver, however, leaving most other regions of the province virtually unscathed, Vancouver Island included. Above, here’s the Island ranked against some of the countries most lauded for containing COVID-19. Health researchers will be studying for decades why some areas of Canada did so much better than others in facing COVID-19, but for an Island within easy distance of two hard-hit major cities, these numbers are nothing short of miraculous.
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