"An analysis of federal data for the first time estimates excess deaths — the number beyond what would normally be expected — during that period."
There is apparently a significant under-count in the United States coronavirus death toll, according to a new investigative report in the Washington Post.
In the early weeks of the coronavirus epidemic, the United States recorded an estimated 15,400 excess deaths, nearly two times as many as were publicly attributed to covid-19 at the time, according to an analysis of federal data conducted for The Washington Post by a research team led by the Yale School of Public Health.
The excess deaths — the number beyond what would normally be expected for that time of year — occurred during March and through April 4, a time when 8,128 coronavirus deaths were reported.
The excess deaths are not necessarily attributable directly to covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. They could include people who died because of the epidemic but not from the disease, such as those who were afraid to seek medical treatment for unrelated illnesses, as well as some number of deaths that are part of the ordinary variation in the death rate. The count is also affected by increases or decreases in other categories of deaths, such as suicides, homicides and motor vehicle accidents.
But in any pandemic, higher-than-normal mortality is a starting point for scientists seeking to understand the full impact of the disease.
Read more:
U.S. deaths soared in early weeks of pandemic, far exceeding number attributed to covid-19
[Emma Brown, Andrew Ba Tran, Beth Reinhard, Monica Ulmanu, April 27 at 11:11 AM]
