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Analysis

Canada’s response to the initial 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparison with peer countries

Fahad Razak, Saeha Shin, C. David Naylor and Arthur S. Slutsky
CMAJ June 27, 2022 194 (25) E870-E877; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.220316
Fahad Razak
Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute (Razak, Shin, Slutsky), St. Michael’s Hospital; Department of Medicine (Razak, Naylor, Slutsky), and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (Razak, Naylor), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.; Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry (Shin), Western University, London, Ont.; Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine (Slutsky), University of Toronto; Keenan Research Centre (Slutsky), St Michael’s Hospital; Departments of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering (Slutsky), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
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Saeha Shin
Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute (Razak, Shin, Slutsky), St. Michael’s Hospital; Department of Medicine (Razak, Naylor, Slutsky), and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (Razak, Naylor), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.; Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry (Shin), Western University, London, Ont.; Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine (Slutsky), University of Toronto; Keenan Research Centre (Slutsky), St Michael’s Hospital; Departments of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering (Slutsky), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
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C. David Naylor
Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute (Razak, Shin, Slutsky), St. Michael’s Hospital; Department of Medicine (Razak, Naylor, Slutsky), and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (Razak, Naylor), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.; Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry (Shin), Western University, London, Ont.; Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine (Slutsky), University of Toronto; Keenan Research Centre (Slutsky), St Michael’s Hospital; Departments of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering (Slutsky), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
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Arthur S. Slutsky
Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute (Razak, Shin, Slutsky), St. Michael’s Hospital; Department of Medicine (Razak, Naylor, Slutsky), and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (Razak, Naylor), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.; Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry (Shin), Western University, London, Ont.; Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine (Slutsky), University of Toronto; Keenan Research Centre (Slutsky), St Michael’s Hospital; Departments of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering (Slutsky), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
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    Figure 1:

    SARS-CoV-2 infections, vaccination status, COVID-19 deaths and excess deaths. Data were extracted from a publicly available source (Our World in Data). We analyzed country-level data on the daily cumulative numbers per 1 million population for confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections (A), confirmed COVID-19 deaths (C) and excess deaths (D). Additionally, we retrieved the proportion of population who received all doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine prescribed by the initial vaccination protocol (B). Given that the latest data available for Canada on the cumulative excess mortality were from Oct. 3, 2021, we used this date as the cut-off for comparisons against other countries (D).

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    Figure 2:

    Oxford Stringency Index. In the box-and-whisker plot (A), we calculated the country-specific percentiles of stringency index. In the bar graphs, we first calculated the Group of 10 (G10) 10th and 90th percentiles (37.0 and 76.8, respectively) of Stringency Index based on all available daily reports of Stringency Index from all 11 countries included in the analysis since the start of the pandemic to Feb. 8, 2022. We then obtained the number of days that each country was either (B) above the G10 90th percentile or (C) below the G10 10th percentile.

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    Figure 3:

    Change in (A) unemployment rate, (B) gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and (C) inflation. Using quarterly data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), we extracted the unemployment rates, GDP per capita (US dollars, volume estimates, fixed purchasing power parity, OECD reference year 2015, and seasonally adjusted), and annual inflation measured by consumer price index from the fourth quarter of 2019 (Q4–2019) to Q4–2021. We calculated the change in unemployment rates for each country by taking the difference between Q4–2021 and Q4–2019 (A). We obtained change in GDP per capita by taking the difference between the 2 GDP per capita, divided by the baseline GDP per capita (Q4–2019 [B]). We obtained the change in inflation rate by taking the difference between December 2021 and December 2019 (C). Additionally, using annual data from the International Monetary Fund, we obtained annual general government gross debt (percentage of GDP) from years 2019 to 2021. We calculated change in debt-to-GDP ratio by taking the difference between year 2021 and year 2019 (D).

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Canadian Medical Association Journal: 194 (25)
CMAJ
Vol. 194, Issue 25
27 Jun 2022
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Canada’s response to the initial 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparison with peer countries
Fahad Razak, Saeha Shin, C. David Naylor, Arthur S. Slutsky
CMAJ Jun 2022, 194 (25) E870-E877; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.220316

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Canada’s response to the initial 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparison with peer countries
Fahad Razak, Saeha Shin, C. David Naylor, Arthur S. Slutsky
CMAJ Jun 2022, 194 (25) E870-E877; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.220316
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