Furey: As of last count, 70.8% of COVID-19 deaths in Canada have been persons over the age of 80, with the 70-79 bracket accounting for another 18.5%. Those under 40 years of age account for 0.3% of deaths.
Overlay that with the co-morbidity data and an even more nuanced picture materializes. While the national data is limited, the Alberta data reveals that 77.1% of people who died of COVID-19 did so while grappling with 3 or more underlying conditions. The percentage of people who have died with zero underlying conditions is 2%, and that tally includes people in their 90s.
A Statistics Canada report adds that not a single Canadian under the age of 45 died of COVID-19 during the first wave without contending with “at least one other disease or condition.”
These are the facts. You can make of them what you wish — you can even say my reporting is “downplaying” the severity of the virus, as the prime minister has done — but that doesn’t change reality. And this reality tells us that the worst fears we held during the first wave have since been proven to not be accurate.
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