Researcher defends work after Sask. premier calls COVID-19 death study 'misinformation'
CBC
A University of Toronto researcher is defending her work after Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe referred to her estimate on excess deaths related to COVID-19 in the province as "egregious misinformation."
Tara Moriarty, an associate professor and infectious diseases researcher at the University of Toronto, has been studying excess deaths in Canada and how they relate to COVID-19.
She is the lead author for the working group of a peer-reviewed study commissioned by the Royal Society of Canada on excess deaths during the pandemic.
Moriarty was featured in a recent Saskatoon Star-Phoenix story, in which she said the number of Saskatchewan deaths could be seven times higher than the provincial total of 977.
Moe was asked about the province's reporting of deaths at a news conference on Monday.
"I'm hearing numbers that are in the thousands, that simply is nothing more than misinformation and it should be challenged," Moe said.
He said the province averages 10,000 deaths a year and a suggestion that COVID-19 deaths were being underreported "nothing short of some of the most egregious misinformation that I've seen throughout this pandemic. And it really shouldn't be spread."
According to Statistics Canada, there were 10,219 deaths in 2020 — 663 more than in 2019.
The 10-year average for deaths in Saskatchewan is 9,390. The province officially reported 153 COVID-19 deaths in 2020.
On Monday, Moriarty defended the work of her team and her estimate on deaths in a letter to Moe she posted on Twitter.
Moriarty said Saskatchewan could see 700 deaths in the coming months, offered to help Saskatchewan prevent deaths and explain how deaths have been missed.
She welcomed Moe to check her information, how she came to her calculation of excess deaths, which she said was available online and peer-reviewed by experts.
In her statement, Moriarty said the province should adopt post-mortem testing, like Manitoba and Quebec.
"Post-mortem testing is crucial for determining if people died of COVID-19."
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.