Comparisons between Republic and NI are distasteful and inaccurate

IT is rather distasteful to compare the death-tolls from Covid-19 in the Republic and in Northern Ireland, but that doesn’t seem to stop some people spreading the notion that Northern Ireland has fared worse than the Republic.

You published an article by Gareth Cross entitled “Has EU’S vaccine failure punctured the border poll bubble?” (Saturday Review, March 13), in which you include a quotation by Professor Gabriel Scally.

Professor Scally states: “In terms of deaths, Northern Ireland has had a substantially worse record than the Republic.”

Really? He offers no evidence in support of this assertion and he surely must have seen the recent figures.

Since December 31, deaths recorded in the Republic have more than doubled (from 2,237 to 4,534 at the time of writing).

In the same period, the increase in Northern Ireland has been just over one-third of the Republic’s increase.

In the month of February, an additional 1,002 deaths were recorded in the Republic. The figure in Northern Ireland was 194.

Unfortunately, the Republic’s poor record on vaccinations is likely to increase this divergence, which is clearly bad news for both jurisdictions.

Statistics can be misleading, particularly when applied to the human misery of Covid-19. There are different methods used to calculate the figures.

For instance, if I test positive for Covid in Belfast, recover within a week, then get killed in a car accident a week later, I technically count as a Covid death.

When reading the above figures, we need to remember not only that the Republic’s population is 2.4 times that of Northern Ireland, but also that our population density is twice that of the Republic.

If there is one thing Northern Ireland seems to have in common with the Republic in terms of Covid deaths it is the impact of waxing and waning public adherence to lockdown restrictions.

The death-toll rises and we lock down; the death-toll eases and we become complacent.

I find it difficult to avoid the conclusion that the people of the Republic let their guard down over Christmas to a significantly greater extent than we did in Northern Ireland and have not raised it again.

That could certainly explain the fact that in recent months the deathtoll has often been five times higher in the Republic.