Taiwan Covid -Excess Death Update

I didn’t do a September Update since I got distracted with what was going on in Israel/Gaza, plus the September data was surprisingly good. I suspected this may have been due to all the holidays in September and the death data might not have been complete.

In any event, there has been very little COVID in Taiwan in September and October. Yay!

Of course most are still wearing masks.

Now for the Deaths

In September we saw 14,610 deaths.   This is only 7.2% above the 2018-2021 average (985 more deaths). About 150 were COVID deaths.  Not too bad, although by now we must consider if there is a bit of a Pull Forward Effect after the carnage of the last 18 months

October was not so  good with 16,594 deaths, which is 14.0% above the 2018-2021 average (extra 2,037 deaths) of which about  125 were COVID deaths

Was some of that carry over from September? Maybe, I don’t know.

If we lump September and October together we get 10.7% above the 2018-2021 average (extra 3,022 deaths) with less than 300 COVID deaths.

Thats an improvement over the first 8 months of the year which was running about 15% above the 2018-2021 average.

Of course, there is another variable to consider

Taipei, Oct. 11 (CNA) People of all ages in Taiwan can now receive government-funded shots of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine against the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Wednesday.

The vaccine, which was granted emergency use authorization (EUA) on Sept. 13, was initially offered to people aged 65 and older starting Sept. 26, and then to medical personnel from Oct. 2, the CDC said.

https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202310110009

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