Coroners authorized 2,941 more cremations in April and May than they did, on average, during those months in the previous three years
Crosses laid out on a lawn near the Camilla Care Community, a long term care home in Mississauga, Ont., are photographed on April 13, 2020.Nearly 3,000 more bodies than usual were cremated in Ontario during the height of the first wave of COVID-19, according to coroner’s office data that provide the first glimpse into how the pandemic has affected overall mortality in Canada’s most populous province.
Ontario’s cremation data, provided in response to a request from The Globe and Mail, help fill a void created by the province’s inability to provide Statistics Canada with the information it would need to estimate excess mortality during the pandemic.As SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has swept around the globe, epidemiologists have looked to excess mortality figures to better understand the virus’s toll.
“So it’s a pretty good proxy, or a pretty good view, into what is occurring across the province as far as death goes,” Dr. Huyer added. The other eight provinces and territories that provided information to Statistics Canada recorded total deaths roughly in line with previous years.Ontario’s cremation data for the first five months of the year also reveal an uptick in cremations among people who died under the age of 44, a demographic much less likely than the elderly to succumb to COVID-19.
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