Niagara top doc notes COVID-19 deaths are higher in 2022 than 2020

Niagara | Niagara Falls | St Catharines | Welland | COVID |

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Published November 14, 2022 at 11:15 am

Niagara Region acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. Mustafa Hirji said he would have preferred the return of mask mandate as COVID-19 numbers continue to soar both in this region and country-wide.

While Ontario’s top doctor is suggesting – but not mandating – people wearing facemasks again, Niagara Region’s acting Medical Officer of Health is pointing out some deadly numbers for November.

Dr. Mustafa Hirji posted number for the time period of November 1 to 10 and so far, Niagara had seen more COVID-19 deaths than it did in either 2020 or 2021.

There have been 13 COVID-19 deaths in the first ten days of November, matching the total of all of November 2020 and far outpacing last year’s November total of two deaths.

So far, since the pandemic began in March 2020, there have been 646 deaths and those numbers do not seem to be slowing down.

“Here is national data,” Hirji said. “2022 is the most deadly year of the pandemic.”

“Important context: we’re doing almost nothing to prevent COVID-19 deaths now. That’s both a recognition that thanks to vaccination we can do almost nothing to prevent COVID-19 and deaths aren’t overwhelmingly higher. But also an indictment of how little we care so many are dying.”

Across Canada, 2020 saw 16,023 deaths in total from the virus and while vaccinations helped that number drop to 14,091 in 2021, things are not looking good for 2022.

Already, with a month and a half left in the year, Canada has seen 16,596 COVID-19 deaths.

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