It has become a familiar story. Once again, Canada\u2019s COVID-19 cases and deaths are rising faster than the U.S. In November, confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Canada increased by 61.2 per cent, versus 47.5 per cent in the U.S. Both increases exceeded the October rate and in Canada\u2019s case represented almost a three-fold rise since the first of September. Over the same three months, cases in the U.S. merely doubled. And deaths in Canada, which lagged well behind the increase in the U.S. for September and October, rose by 19.7 per cent in November, compared with only 16.0 in the U.S.<\/p>\n
Table 1: COVID-19 cases and deaths November 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n Source: Worldometer<\/strong><\/p>\n The upward trend in Canada was especially troubling in the final week of November as both case numbers and deaths were at the top of the range projected in modelling by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The PHAC projected a cumulative case range between 366,500 and 378,600 and deaths of from 11,800 to 12,120 to November 30. Cases of 378,120 came within a few hundred on the top of the range while deaths, at 12,184, exceeded it.<\/p>\n Just as \u00a0during the first wave, many of the deaths occurred in long-term care homes. There is not enough consistent reporting to enable month-by-month or province-by-province comparisons. In May, it was estimated that about 80 per cent – 5,325 of the 6,575 COVID-19 deaths to that point – were in long-term care and retirement residences. The PHAC reported last month that deaths in long-term care and residential residences stood at 7,339, which would indicate that, to the end of November, about 60 per cent of the victims of COVID are in long term care. And despite a second wave surge in infections among younger people, close to 90 per cent of all fatalities were 70 or older.<\/p>\n West hit hard<\/strong><\/p>\n As was the case in \u00a0October, the virus hit the west the hardest last month. Led by an increase of more than 30,000 in Alberta, cases more than doubled in the Western Provinces and the Territories in November. Ontario and Quebec experienced a slightly lower rate of increase in November than in October, while the month-to-month rate of increase nearly doubled in the Atlantic Provinces.<\/p>\n Table 2: Change in COVID-19 cases by region<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\n <\/td>\n Increase in cases<\/td>\n Increases in deaths<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Canada<\/td>\n 61.2%<\/td>\n 19.7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n U.S.<\/td>\n 47.5%<\/td>\n 16.0%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n