A new analysis suggests that U.S. deaths from COVID-19 were underreported during the early weeks of the pandemic.
www.forbes.com
Analysis: U.S. Deaths From COVID-19 Could Be Significantly Higher Than Reported [Infographic]
The steady stream of data regarding the spread of the coronavirus has proved inconsistent at times, particularly when it comes to mortality. For example, the United Kingdom has only been counting people who tested positive for COVID-19 before dying in hospital and its figures do not match the number of death certificates indicating that the coronavirus was a contributory factor.
In an attempt to determine true mortality rates, more and more analysts are looking into the number of excess deaths in different countries to see if the number of people dying is higher than in the same weeks in previous years. Recently, The Financial Times
reported that the mortality rate in Bergamo Province in Italy is up 463% compared to the same period in recent years while it has climbed 161% in Madrid.
Another
recent study was conducted by the Yale School of Public Health for the Washington Post and it recorded an estimated 15,400 excess deaths in the United States from March through April 04, twice as many as were publicly attributed to the coronavirus during that time frame. The official tally during that period was 8,128, accounting for just 53% of excess deaths which suggests that the true death toll from the pandemic is likely to be significantly higher than reported. The analysis also looked at data from New York City and a handful of U.S. states where the trend was similar.
In New York City, 2,543 official deaths from COVID-19 were recorded from March through April 04, accounting for just 40% of the excess deaths listed in the Washington Post analysis. Like the Big Apple, New Jersey has also been badly impacted by the crisis and it had 2,200 excess deaths during the above period. It's official COVID-19 death toll back then stood at 846, or 38% of total excess deaths. The gap is narrower in Michigan where its 540 deaths attributed to the pandemic accounted for 77% of total excess deaths registered across the state.
Reported COVID-19 deaths as a share of total U.S. excess deaths.
STATISTA
