Covid Check In

Been a while since we checked on all things Covid.

Ontario is cautiously, cautiously re-opening activities. We are about 83% fully vaccinated and - based on my non-scientific observational study last week - fully half of the people on the streets are wearing masks.   

So is Covid still out of control in Ontario?  I don't know. But if you listen to the media, it's hell on wheels.

[This little diddy courtesy of the Toronto Star.]

But is it?  More on that later.

But let's check some places that are out of control.

These charts compare Covid case rates per capita (all on the same scale) for each US state and Canadian province/territory.

So the northern and western states seem to be the ones out of control.  Even Canada's Northwest Territories leads the pack in the Great White North.

Let's look a little deeper.....

Again more western and northern states have the higher rates.  And now one of Canada's western provinces makes an appearance.

Interesting that Saskatchewan  - the bogeyman in Canada at #2 - is lower than 22 other states.

What about the petri dish of Covid infection even further west - Alberta?

What?  Its "out of control" rate is lower than 38 states.

So where is fearful and cautious Ontario....?

Look down.  Look way down.....

Our dreaded fourth wave isn't even a pimple on the graph. In fact, Ontario is now lower than all the US states and 8 of the 13 provinces and territories.

But I hear you.  You say, UC, the rate is low because we have been locked down for longer than anybody.  Maybe so.

But here's the most shocking part of this graph:

Florida, who if you listen to the US media can't be anything more than an open crematorium for Covid deaths, now sits third in case rate.

Third lowest!  [#49 on the chart] And they haven't been locked down at all.  How does that work?

But just like that elusive groundhog, I think it's time for Ontarians to cautiously pull the curtains back and stick their heads of the door. But not too quickly, or the media will pounce.

Yup. Ontario must be the most dangerous place on the planet....

[Post script: you may say that Florida has had many more deaths than Ontario or a lot of the US states.

Couple of points:

• Florida ranks 10th on deaths per capita in the US (less than New York & New Jersey, but the rate is very low now [because most of them have already died?]   
• Florida has 10 times the population density of Ontario. 20 million people crammed into that little peninsula. With many more millions of disease toting tourists.
• Florida has the second highest % of seniors in the US.  [Well, it used to before most of them died, too.]   
• So nobody's perfect, but both Florida and Ontario looks to be in pretty good shape now.]