Clinic criticized for poster suggesting COVID, flu `similar'
A Calgary infectious disease specialist disputes a claim seen on a document previously posted in the window of a southeast Calgary medical clinic, which suggested COVID-19 is “similar” to the flu in the number of people it harms and kills.
The document, titled “Facts About COVID-19,” showed statistics that say nationally, 96 per cent of Canadians have tested negative for the virus, three per cent of those who contracted it died, and 97 per cent survived.
The poster at the Cranston Ridge Medical Clinic also said “the flu has very similar statistics each year,” and urged people to “think about these numbers when you watch the news and when you elect politicians.”
But Craig Jenne, an infectious disease researcher and Canada Research Chair at the University of Calgary, said the numbers we've seen from COVID -19 show that it's much more severe than the flu.
“If we think about COVID-19, only about two per cent of Canadians have been infected, and there's already five times more death.”
The numbers cited in the poster are reasonably accurate, although constantly changing. As of Thursday, 1.9 per cent of Canada's 37.59 million citizens have tested positive for COVID-19. Roughly 95.7 per cent of those tested have tested negative. The death rate from those who have been infected is actually 2.5 per cent, meaning that for every 200 who tested positive in Canada, five have died.
Postmedia reached out to the clinic, which declined to do a phone interview. In an emailed response, Dr. David Karczewski, clinical manager, defended the poster.
He wrote that the statistics were pulled from the internet and are factual.
“Facts are not opinions, and therefore they do not represent the view of anyone working at the clinic,” said Karczewski. “They are simply facts.”
Alberta's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, addressed comparisons between COVID and the flu during her provincial update Monday.
“It is important to keep in mind that over the past 10 years, the average annual recorded death toll has been 58 deaths per year,” said Hinshaw.
She noted that Alberta lost 11 people to COVID — or 20 per cent of the average annual death toll from flu — on Monday alone.
Hinshaw and other health officials have stated throughout the pandemic that the biggest risk with COVID -19 is in overwhelming the health-care system with patients, even as some people experience mild symptoms.
Jenne said five times as many Canadians have lost their life to COVID-19 as would have died in a bad flu season. And that has happened with only a small fraction of the population catching it.
“In a typical flu year, anywhere from 20 to 30 per cent of the Canadian public catches the influenza virus,” said Jenne. “We lose about 3,500 Canadians in a situation where 20-30 per cent of us are infected.
Jenne said if we treated COVID like the flu and allowed it to spread to 20 or 30 per cent of the population, the numbers of hospitalizations and deaths would be “beyond shocking.”
The flyer caught the attention of Cranston resident Taylor Brett, who said he was surprised to see the poster at the clinic.
“I was reading it and I thought, this seems very false for a doctor to be putting up in their window about COVID,” said Brett.
“The part that bothered me the most was claiming that the flu has similar statistics, and just knowing how many Albertans have died this year from COVID, or have long term illness from it,” said Brett. “To see a doctor post that on their door — it's concerning that they're helping to spread this information.”
Karczewski said he and the other clinic staff continue to offer advice mandated by Alberta Health Services, but it is his own personal view the COVID -19 pandemic does not warrant the current restrictions on gatherings within one's home, which he described as an infringement on people's rights.
He said the poster, flagged by Brett, has been taken down but the clinic will continue to put up numbers “both raw and in proportion.”
“Our intention is to allow our own patients to draw their own conclusions and on the basis of these, to make their own independent decisions,” said Karczewski. “When we will manage to produce a newly updated poster, we will obviously publish it.”
On Thursday, a new poster with more detailed numbers, including Alberta-specific data, had been put up at the medical clinic. It removed comparisons of COVID to the flu, but claimed that constitutional rights were being taken away.