FACT CHECK: COVID-19 has now killed more Albertans than last 10 flu seasons combined | CBC News
This is a re-post of an article by Pandemic Analysis on Dec. 18, 2020
Here is the original article with the alleged claim.
In a recent press release, Dr.Hinshaw, the chief medical officer of Alberta, has claimed that “in less than 10 months, more Albertans have now died from COVID-19 than have died from influenza in the last 10 years combined”. The above statement is being publicized on CBC News to warn Albertans to adhere to the public health orders. Ironically, The information is also in stark contradiction with what was reported by the same media outlet eight years earlier. In their own words:
“The fact is, no one knows how many people die after being infected with the flu virus. The death estimates are not based on body counts, lab tests or autopsies… In a perfect world, the flu death statistic would be based on an actual count of confirmed deaths after infection with the flu virus. But that’s difficult to do, because autopsies are almost never done, lab tests for the flu virus are rarely done, and someone could die from the complications of flu even though the virus is no longer detectable in their bodies”. (CBC, 2012)
The above statement details how Dr. Hinshaw’s claim is unfalsifiable. How many individuals were tested for flu since the beginning of the pandemic? The answer can be found directly from the Alberta Health Services (2020) website:
“as of March 12, community samples are no longer being routinely tested for non-COVID respiratory pathogens including flu.”
A final point to ponder, what happens when a PCR test yields a false positive and coincides with flu-like symptoms originating from these other non-SARS-CoV-2 respiratory pathogens? I suspect it would count as a SARS-CoV-2 death, which adds another level of confusion.
Conclusion: Dr. Hinshaw’s claim can be revised as follows: “in less than 10 months, more Albertans have [been tested for] COVID-19 than have [been tested] from the influenza in the last 10 years combined”.
References
Alberta Health Services. (2020, May 7). Past influenza seasonal data,
https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/influenza/Page14481.aspx
Crowe, K. (2012, November 25). Flu deaths reality check. CBC News.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/flu-deaths-reality-check-1.1127442
Original Article Source: https://independentfactcheck.net/?p=17&fbclid=IwAR30S3Z7tFX_dWWWxlEcXjKgyZSle-BePymCRwaSPWw0K-9eps3vNiGp9ps