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Where COVID-19 ranks among London-area's deadliest ailments

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It has killed hundreds of London-area residents since it struck 17 months ago, but COVID-19 lags far behind the area’s top killers, including cancer and heart disease, new figures show.

COVID-19 ranked sixth among the leading causes of death in the London area last year and has jumped to the third spot so far in 2021, Statistics Canada data obtained by The London Free Press show.

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But the toll of COVID-19 in the London census metropolitan area — which includes St. Thomas, Strathroy and parts of Middlesex and Elgin counties — pales in comparison to other deadly conditions, accounting for two per cent of the total deaths in the area last year.

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The top two killers in the area are cancer and heart disease, in that order, accounting for a combined 1,930 deaths last year, about 43 per cent of the total. Cancer and heart disease also took the two top spots in 2019 and 2020 and so far in 2021.

This year, area COVID-19 deaths is having a bigger impact, accounting for about six per cent of deaths by the end of June, the StatsCan data show.

Much of that can be attributed to the third wave before vaccines were widely available. January was the deadliest month of the pandemic in London and Middlesex County, with 73 COVID-19 deaths reported by the Middlesex-London Health Unit. At least 49 of January’s COVID-19 deaths were linked to long-term care homes.

“It highlights for me how serious this has been, particularly the significant impact it has had on our older population,” associate medical officer of health Alex Summers said Friday.

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“When we look back at the waves that hit long-term care and retirement residences, it was really tragic.”

In both 2019 and 2020, unintentional injuries were the third leading cause of death, cerebrovascular diseases — including stroke and aneurysms — ranked fourth and chronic lower respiratory diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema, came fifth.

In 2020, when COVID-19 ranked sixth among the leading causes of death in the London area, diabetes ranked seventh, flu and pneumonia were eighth and liver disease was the ninth. Statistics Canada reported 4,400 deaths in the London area last year and 1,545 in the first six months of 2021.

Statistics Canada estimated COVID-19 lead to a reduction in life expectancy of 0.41 years in 2020.

King’s University College demographer and sociologist Don Kerr says London’s death data aligns with the national statistics, adding the toll of COVID-19 could have been much worse in Canada.

“If we hadn’t contained the virus with masks and social distancing, the number of deaths would have climbed quite dramatically,” he said.

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“In the US, COVID was ranked third overall in 2020, responsible for over 10 per cent of all American deaths.”

Statistics Canada’s data come from details contained in people’s medical certificates of death and differ slightly from the COVID-19 death tolls provided Middlesex-London Health Unit and Southwestern Public Health, the health unit in Elgin and Oxford counties.

The federal agency is reporting 200 COVID-19 deaths in the London census metropolitan area over the course of the pandemic, compared to the 232 reported by the Middlesex-London Health Unit.

On Friday, the London-area health unit urged the public to be vigilant about public health measures as COVID-19 case counts spike, largely among unvaccinated and partially vaccinated young adults.

While the fourth wave is upon us and is cause for concern, Summers said the COVID-19 vaccination campaign may make this surge less deadly than the others.

“The number of anticipated deaths is proportionate to the number of cases we see and which population is hit by those cases. I’m encouraged that the vaccination coverage in our oldest population is so high. That will make a big difference,” he said, adding more than 88 per cent of adults 70 and older are fully vaccinated in the London area.

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“We already saw the profound impact of the vaccine during the third wave, when we had so many less deaths, relative to the second wave.”

jbieman@postmedia.com


Leading causes of death in London area in 2020

Percentage of total deaths

  1. Cancer – 26.25%
  2. Heart disease – 17.6%
  3. Accidental injuries – 5.6%
  4. Cerebrovascular diseases – 4.5%
  5. Chronic lower respiratory diseases – 4%
  6. COVID-19 – 2.3%
  7. Diabetes – 2.1%
  8. Flu and pneumonia – 1.8%
  9. Liver disease and cirrhosis – 1.5%
  10. Alzheimer’s disease – 1.3%

Other causes combined – 32%

Source: Statistics Canada

CORONAVIRUS CASES: THE NUMBERS

(*Figures for Southwestern Ontario as of Monday, Aug. 23, 2021, at 4 p.m.)

  • Ontario — 560,151 cases
  • London-Middlesex — 13,180 cases, 232 deaths
  • Elgin-Oxford — 4,053 cases, 84 deaths
  • Brant — 3,561 cases, 20 deaths
  • Chatham-Kent — 1,976 cases, 17 deaths
  • Sarnia-Lambton — 3,674 cases, 68 deaths
  • Huron Perth — 2,003 cases, 57 deaths
  • Grey-Bruce — 2,218 cases, 9 deaths
  • Windsor-Essex — 17,658 cases, 437 deaths
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