HOW DEADLY IS COVID?

Readers of this newspaper have seen numerous stories about how deadly and contagious COVID-19 is. Politicians and public health officials continue to remind us how important it is to flatten the curve and to prevent overloading our hospitals.

No doubt, it is imperative to protect the most vulnerable in our communities. This paper has reported on almost every aspect of this virus — with the exception of the mortality rate. Does it not make sense to let your readers know how deadly this virus is? Perhaps your reporters could interview local experts at Dalhousie University.

To be clear, the mortality rate is the number of Canadians that have died from COVID-19 (let’s call this A) divided by the number of Canadians who have and who have had (and cleared) this disease. Let’s call this B. A/B = the mortality rate.

Understandably, it may be difficult to accurately determine B because many people who have had COVID-19 didn’t know they had it in the first place. A very large proportion of COVID-19 carriers are asymptomatic. The only way to arrive at B is to test a large, representative sample of the population for COVID-19 antibodies. If a person has those, they’ve had the virus. I am confident that at least a few local contagious disease specialists could provide this newspaper with some accurate numbers or educated guesses as to the mortality rate of COVID-19 in Canada.

Other sources from supposed experts in the U.S. tell us that the mortality rate there is between 0.3 per cent and 0.6 per cent — meaning that, out of every thousand people known to have contracted this virus, between three and six people have died. But these days, who knows what to believe when the source is the internet?

People tend to trust and believe local experts, which is why I believe your readers would appreciate knowing the mortality rate as reported from the local infectious disease experts and epidemiologists. To be clear, I am not trying to downplay the seriousness of this virus, as it has proven to be deadly to some of our seniors and immune-compromised citizens. I have the utmost respect for our local public health officials and front-line medical professionals. But I question why your newspaper is not reporting the mortality rate of COVID-19.

Scott Smith, Bedford