A new investigation by the New York health authority suspects more than 5,000 additional corona fatalities in the metropolis. The study published on Monday then indicates a total of about 25,000 fatalities in the city on the US east coast.
She examined what is known as excess mortality in New York City from March 11th to May 2nd – that is, the deviation from the assumed number of deaths during the same period in a normal year.
For the time, the agency counted 32,107 deaths in New York, which corresponds to an excess mortality of 24,172. Of this number of deaths, which is above the normally expected rate, 13,831 victims were confirmed and a further 5048 had previously been recorded as probable Covid-19 cases. What remains is the number of 5,293 deaths (22 percent) who were not assigned. These could be “directly or indirectly due to the pandemic,” it said.
According to the experts, the non-recording of these suspected corona fatalities could be due, among other things, to sick people who tested false negative, died outside medical control or whose death has not yet been linked to Covid-19. New York City, with a population of 8.5 million, was by far the hardest hit by the pandemic in North America. A survey by the state indicated that one in five New Yorkers could have been infected with the virus.
Slow relaxation of the measures
In contrast to the city of New York, the state of the same name wants to slowly loosen its restrictions again from Friday – but only in regions that meet certain conditions. The total of seven conditions included, among other things, falling numbers of infections, sufficient free hospital capacity and sufficient test and follow-up capacities.
If a region meets all of these conditions, it will be allowed to enter a four-phase opening process, which will be overseen by a regional body, Governor Andrew Cuomo said at his daily press conference on Monday. In the first phase, for example, construction work that is not systemically relevant may be resumed. If the numbers deteriorate again, easing can also be reversed.
Currently, only three rural regions in the north of the state met these conditions, Cuomo said. The metropolis of New York, where around half of the state’s approximately 19 million inhabitants live, does not yet meet the requirements.
The number of new infections overall continued to decline in the state. 161 people died on Sunday after being infected with the virus, Cuomo announced. In March and April, up to 800 people per day had died from the virus. So far, nearly 330,000 people have contracted the virus in the state. More than 26,000 died. (apa, dpa)
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