Morning News Update for May 5 2020

📷 Bonnie Henry provides COVID-19 modelling / via Province of BC Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

NANAIMO—New statistics from the Ministry of Health show more younger women than men have been infected with COVID-19, but more men are dying from it. The data shows close to a two-thirds of those infected in the 20 to 59-year-old group are women. That's because many of those infected in that age group are health care workers, jobs which employ more women. After the age of 60, the data shows more men than women catch the virus, and the men get sicker, with up to 60 per cent of men ending up in hospital while up to 40 per cent of women in that age group are hospitalized. The death rate for men is also higher. In the 60 to 70-year-old group who caught the virus, 14 per cent of men and 4 per cent of women died from it. In the 70 to 80-year-old age group, the death rate was 37 per cent for men, and 14 per cent for women. BC's Provincial Health Officer says similar statistics are being reported world-wide. Dr. Bonnie Henry says there is a theory that men are more likely to suffer what's called a Cytokine (SIGH-toe-kine) storm. It's an over reaction by the immune system, where the body starts to attack its own cells and tissues rather than just the virus. The data also a high death rate for people with underlying health conditions. They make up more than a third of all those infected in BC, but 84 per cent of those infected died from the disease.

Other statistics from the Ministry of Health show higher than average death rates in BC, and not all of them are from COVID-19. From January to late April there were 170 more deaths than expected in BC. 111 of them are attributed to COVID-19, but 60 others are unexplained. Dr. Henry suspects some might be from weather-related events, or motor vehicle accidents or from people staying away from emergency rooms. However, she downplayed suggestions that some might be the result of cancelled surgeries. Henry says she's confident the most urgent surgeries have taken place, despite the COVID-19 restrictions. Henry says she hopes those questions will be answered when health researchers receive cause of death reports.

On a brighter note, today is Giving Tuesday, a global day of giving and unity in response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19. Vancouver Island University is sharing stories about alumni who are making a difference in their communities, using the hashtags #TogetherVIU and #GivingTuesdayNow. They will include stories around the University's Emergency Bursary Fund, that supports students affected by the pandemic. It has distributed more than $437,000 to students and the VIU Foundation continues to raise money so more students can be helped.

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Lisa Cordasco

Senior Reporter and News Director — Lisa is responsible for creating the station's first morning news current affairs show on CHLY. She is also deeply involved in training and mentoring student and citizen journalists who volunteer their time at the station. Before joining CHLY, Lisa spent 35 years in various roles at CBC Radio, from host to reporter. Her passion for journalism and radio has led her to Nanaimo, where she intends to provide CHLY listeners with news they can use, in an alternative radio environment. Her other not-so-secret passion is costuming for any occasion.

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