New York City recorded 24,000 more deaths than normal over 2 months this spring. About 5,000 of those are still a mystery.

Indirectly caused by Covid-19 would include people who died of other causes because they couldn't get timely treatment because so many medical personnel and resources have been tied up treating Covid-19 patients. Some would be people who avoided getting medical attention because they were afraid to go to the hospital for fear of Cofid-19.

https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-coronavirus-excess-deaths-spring-2020-5

Aria Bendix
May 11, 2020

Before the coronavirus outbreak, New York City expected to see around 8,000 deaths this spring. Instead, the health department recorded 32,000 deaths from March 11 to May 2.

Around 14,000 of the 24,000 excess deaths were laboratory-confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Another 5,000 are considered "probable" coronavirus deaths — meaning the patients were not tested, but the coronavirus is listed on their death certificates.

That leaves another 5,000-plus deaths that cannot be explained. In a new paper, the New York City health department estimated that those, too, "might have been directly or indirectly attributable to the pandemic."

Some may have been people who got the coronavirus but waited too long to seek medical care — either because of overcrowding at hospitals or the city's shelter-in-place ordinance — and died at home. Hospitals may also have attributed some deaths to underlying health conditions like heart disease or diabetes, when in fact the coronavirus was primarily responsible.

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