The Medical Officer of Health in Windsor-Essex admits some COVID-19 deaths in the region may not be included in the official total.
Wajid Ahmed commented on a study released earlier this week that suggests, across Canada, twice as many people may have died from the virus than the official death toll of over 26,000.
The study, commissioned by the Royal Society of Canada, suggests many of those deaths likely occurred in lower-income, racialized, inter-generational homes and among frail seniors who lived alone.
Ahmed could not say if any deaths locally went uncounted and would not speculate on the death toll nationwide but admitted it's not out of the realm of possibility.
"There are people actively seeking healthcare, people getting tested, and then there are people who may not feel the need to get tested, and even if they are sick, they may attribute it to something else," he said. "If God forbid they die from it, they won't be captured in any record, any system."
Another issue that could impact the official toll is how these deaths are defined.
"In our epidemiology, we always go with the case definitions. So, how are we defining the case? Who is a case and who is not a case?" he said. "Those are the questions where we always try to dig deeper and try to make it consistent for the purpose of counting, especially for counting across the board."
As of Wednesday morning, Windsor-Essex had an official COVID-19 death toll of 435.
