https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-deaths-likely-much-higher-than-official-tolls-ft-analysis-2020-4
No surprise.
Sinéad Baker
Apr 27, 2020, 7:18 AM
A new analysis of coronavirus deaths in 14 countries found that official death tolls are likely massively understating the true scale of the pandemic.
The Financial Times studied the number of deaths from all causes in 14 countries in March and April, then compared that figure with the average for the same period between 2015 and 2019. It concluded that the difference between the two was a reasonable estimate of how many extra deaths the pandemic had caused.
The Financial Times found that the death toll calculated this way was almost 60% higher than the various countries' official death tolls: a total of 122,000 deaths above normal levels, compared with 77,000 from the official numbers.
It has long been clear that official figures — usually from national health ministries — are not capturing all the deaths from the pandemic. Some governments, for instance, do not include deaths in care homes.
The Financial Times said its figure might also capture deaths that are indirectly attributable to the virus — for example, people who died of other health problems because national systems were overwhelmed with virus patients.
But it said most were directly related to the virus. "Excess mortality has risen most steeply in places suffering the worst COVID-19 outbreaks, suggesting most of these deaths are directly related to the virus rather than simply side-effects of lockdowns," the report said.
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It found that New York City had at least a 200% rise in deaths and that Madrid had a 161% increase.
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And some countries already have glaring omissions from their reported death tolls.
For example, some of the UK's official data includes only the deaths in hospitals.
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Other research has found that the real death tolls in China, Italy, and the US may be at least 10 times as high.
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