In its COVID-19 reporting, Alberta Health classifies all related deaths as those in which COVID-19 was a direct or contributing factor.
COVID-19 is ruled a primary cause when it directly led to death, Hinshaw explained, whereas it being labelled as a secondary cause means the disease worsened a severe pre-existing condition that results in death. The province considers cancer -- among diabetes, dementia, chronic kidney disease and others -- as pre-existing health conditions.
新冠是导致死亡的 primary 或 secondary cause，这两种情况在阿尔伯特都被认为是新冠死亡。
- primary cause：新冠直接导致死亡。
- secondary cause：新冠恶化了原有的疾病，然后这个疾病导致了死亡。
阿尔伯特有个14岁的少年因新冠死亡。消息出来后震动很大。后经过调查，该少年患有脑癌，属不治之症，医生认为患者只能存活几个月。在患者去世前，被发现感染有新冠，但新冠跟患者的死亡没有任何关系，所以该少年不是死于新冠。阿尔伯塔的卫生官 Dr. Hinshaw 为此而道歉。
（加拿大是联邦制，医疗由各个省自己负责，所以每个省的标准可能不一样）
