MAKING SENSE OF DIZZYING ARRAY OF HEALTH UNIT STATISTICS
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
MUSKOKA — After the confusing mix-up by the province Monday and Tuesday about over-estimated and under-estimated array of COVID numbers, Dr. Charles Gardner says he’s confident by his account how many local people have or had the coronavirus.
And how many have died — 52.
The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) chief medical officer of health said Tuesday that it wasn’t his team that caused the problem.
As of Wednesday Nov. 25, here’s the picture(s) from their website for Muskoka.
Of the 1,954 cases this year, there have been 91 cases in the northern half of SMHDU and one death; Simcoe has had 1,862 cases with 51 deaths.
The following health unit summary highlights a some of the myriad of statistics SMDHU has collected this year:
- Seniors 80 years of age and older have been disproportionally impacted by the pandemic, having the highest incidence rate and case fatality rate.
- The median age of recovered cases has been decreasing since July (37 years), when compared with the median age from March to June (46 years); however, there is little difference in the median ages of those that were hospitalized or died due to the virus.
- Among those under the age of 35 years, more cases occur among males whereas among cases 45 years of age and older more are female.
- Visible minorities are highly over-represented among confirmed COVID-19 cases in Simcoe Muskoka. Half of all COVID-19 cases in Simcoe Muskoka that have provided information about their race report being a visible minority. In comparison, visible minorities only represent 7% of Simcoe Muskoka’s total population.
- Individuals who report a non-official language (neither English nor French) as their mother tongue represent 10% of the Simcoe Muskoka population. However, nearly 40% of local COVID-19 cases report mother tongues other than English and French.
- Unlike other areas in Ontariowhere COVID-19 cases living in low income are more impacted by the virus, Simcoe Muskoka COVID-19 data shows that those with higher income and those living in areas with less material deprivation (i.e. moderately and well-resourced areas) are more likely to be a COVID-19 case.
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