Alberta’s COVID-19 death toll more than 4 times higher than flu over past year – CBC

732 Albertans have died due to COVID-19 since last August

Sep 09, 2024

A year’s worth of respiratory virus data for Alberta reveals, once again, COVID-19 is far deadlier than the flu.

The death toll due to the two illnesses, combined, topped 900 over the past year.

More than four times as many Albertans died due to COVID compared to influenza.

Alberta’s respiratory dashboard shows flu was responsible for 177 deaths while 732 people died of COVID-19 (between Aug. 27, 2023, and Aug. 24, 2024).

“This is continual evidence that COVID is not just another flu,” said Craig Jenne, professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Calgary, noting influenza is not a benign virus.

“This is the most we’ve ever lost to flu, and COVID has still put up many more deaths than flu. So these remain significant viral diseases in Alberta. They remain a significant risk to some Albertans. And unfortunately, and tragically, they continue to take lives at a really unacceptable rate.”

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/covid-death-toll-higher-than-flu-alberta-1.7316023