Covid-19 is already one of the main causes of death for the year 2020, according to data compiled by INSEE.
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Worse than the Hong Kong flu in 1969-1970, but less important than the heat wave of 2003, the excess mortality due to the Covid-19 epidemic is already one of the main causes of death in France in 2020.
INSEE published a long, seven-point note on Thursday, May 14, on the reliability of excess mortality data, which it has published every week since the beginning of April. In point 2 of this note, the Institute of Statistics asks the question: “What can we compare the number of deaths in March and April 2020? “
The published graph (our image) speaks for itself: the mortality curves, since 2010, all overlap each other, with a few peaks, including the seasonal flu of 2014-2015, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018, as well as some summer heat waves (1976, 1973, 2019).
Three events are particularly visible: the heat wave of summer 2003, the flu of Hong-Kong, which had hit Europe during the winter 1969-1970 and … the epidemic of Covid-19.
While the global dimension of the crisis is in no doubt, INSEE points to the differences at European level, very visible in a map by country.
Finally, but this map is much more usual, INSEE publishes a weekly map of France of excess mortality by department. The latest is here:
