The coronavirus death rate may be much higher than the official toll that shows the United States is approaching 130,000 deaths, a new study says.
The study by JAMA Internal Medicine reports the number of deaths due to any cause increased by 122,000 from March 1 to May 30, which is 28% higher than the reported number of COVID-19 linked deaths.
“Official tallies of deaths due to COVID-19 underestimate the full increase in deaths associated with the pandemic in many states,” the report said.
The official death count in that time frame from March to May was reported to be 95,235. In total deaths in that period, the U.S. lost 781,000 people.
“The number of excess all-cause deaths was 28% higher than the official tally of COVID-19–reported deaths during that period,” the report said. “In several states, these deaths occurred before increases in the availability of COVID-19 diagnostic tests and were not counted in official COVID-19 death records. There was substantial variability between states in the difference between official COVID-19 deaths and the estimated burden of excess deaths.”
The study adds that it’s a common practice to assess the increases in death rates when trying to estimate the mortality burden of a new infectious agent, especially when there is a lack of comprehensive testing.
“The excess deaths methodology has been used to quantify official under-counting of deaths for many pathogens, including pandemic influenza viruses and HIV,” the report says.
The U.S. has now reached over 2.5 million cases of the coronavirus. Public health officials in the federal government have warned of dire consequences if immediate action is not taken to remediate the virus as they scramble to develop a vaccine.
In recent weeks, coronavirus cases have spiked in several states, mostly in the South.
