The number of deaths caused by the new coronavirus in New York could be underestimated by several thousand, according to a study released Monday by the American Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).
According to this study, the death toll in New York from March 11 – the date of the first known death from the coronavirus in America’s largest metropolis – to May 2 was around 32,000, or 24,000 more than expected, compared to previous years.
However, over this period, the city’s official figures have identified 13,831 confirmed deaths from the virus and 5,048 probable deaths from Covid-19, for a total of 18,879 deaths linked to the virus. This leaves 5,293 deaths with exactly no recorded link to the pandemic but which could be linked “directly or indirectly to the virus”, according to this analysis.
Estimates of excess mortality are often used to measure the severity of epidemics, the CDC points out. The organization specifies that the measurement of “probable” or “confirmed” cases excludes in particular the deaths of people who had no access to tests, those whose test would have returned negative by mistake, or who died far from everything. hospital.
With more than 330,000 cases recorded, and more than 26,000 deaths recorded according to Johns Hopkins University, New York State has been the hardest hit by the epidemic in the country.
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