COVID-19 & US healthcare system

[robkelk]

Canada's next-door neighbour is now the epicentre of global pandemic. Here's what that U.S. surge means

The United States had approximately 20 times more reported cases than Canada and 25 times more deaths, as of Monday evening.

The U.S. population (330 million) is about nine times higher than Canada's (37 million).

James Blanchard of the University of Manitoba pegged the U.S. rate at 43 infected per 100,000, compared with 15 per 100,000 in Canada.

"Seeing almost a three-fold higher number of cases in the U.S. than in Canada suggests the current burden is higher than in Canada," said Blanchard, who was trained at Johns Hopkins University in the U.S. and who researches how individuals and communities spread illness.

"We test more than anybody else," Trump told Fox News on Monday. "So we will show [more]."

Blanchard said there's no evidence the U.S. has tested more people — at least not per capita. Canada said Monday it had tested more than 221,000 people, while Trump said Monday that the U.S. had tested over 1 million people.

Doing the math there: the USA is testing approximately half as many people per capita as Canada is. Pick up the pace, USA - you're falling behind.

One border town is starting to suffer a heavy humanitarian toll: Detroit, where cases are surging. And Canadian medical workers are getting a gut-wrenchingly close view.

"My district relies on 1,000 Canadian nurses," Rashida Tlaib, a member of Congress from Detroit, told a U.S. House hearing this month, urging that essential workers be allowed to keep flowing across the border.

They still are.