Researchers have difficulty explaining why Quebec had the highest official death toll for COVID-19 in Canada despite a relatively low excess death toll between March 2020 and October 2021.
A new study published Monday by the Canadian Medical Association Journal tried to answer that question, but it fell short.
The study says Quebec had 4,033 excess deaths during that period, but recorded 11,470 fatalities from COVID-19, nearly three times as many. It is the largest breach recorded in Canada during the pandemic.
Excess deaths refer to the degree to which the observed deaths exceed the expected deaths according to the models of previous years.
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Kimberlyn McGrail, author of the study, Excess Mortality, COVID-19 and Health Systems in Canada, says she observed too many factors to provide a definitive answer.
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Frédéric Fleury-Payeur of the Quebec Institute of Statistics says he believes Quebec doctors included COVID-19 as a cause of death more liberally than doctors in other provinces.
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