How Is Canada Doing It?
Lessons from our neighbors to the north
The number of positive Covid-19 cases in the United States has surpassed a grim 4.3 million. The death count is at 148,450. Across the northern border, Canada’s numbers tell a different story: Its case count stands at 114,597, with 8,901 deaths.
Even after accounting for the fact that Canada’s population is about 8.7 times smaller than that of the U.S., the difference is hard to ignore. Canada’s death rate per capita is 235.55 deaths per million; in the U.S., it’s 443.91 deaths per million — about 1.8 times higher. Evidently, Canada is doing something right. As someone who has watched the crises unfold on either side of the border with great interest (I’m a Canadian living in the U.S.), I’ve found it instructive — and in many ways encouraging — to consider the differences in the way Canada has responded to the crisis.
Let’s be clear that Canada is not doing a perfect job. Far from it: When Canada had its first Covid-19 case on January 25, health experts at first downplayed its seriousness. In April, people in long-term care homes suffered from Covid-19 in such horrible conditions that the military needed to be called in, and hundreds of Mexican migrant workers have been infected with Covid-19 under poor conditions on farms. There’s no provincial or federal directive on mask-wearing…
