Coronavirus death toll may be undercounted by thousands in Pennsylvania and New Jersey

[TexasTowelie]

The coronavirus may have killed up to 9% more Pennsylvanians than the reported death toll for the month of April, an Inquirer data analysis suggests.

The state’s official number of COVID-19 deaths for the month is 3,200, but the number of deaths from all causes was 3,500 above the five-year average for April. That means as many as 300 additional deaths could have been due to coronavirus.

In New Jersey, which has been more up to date in recording death certificates, the possible undercount is even larger. As of May 9, some 9,100 deaths had been attributed to COVID-19, while the number of deaths from any cause was more than 12,000 above the state’s five-year average in the same time period. If those deaths were due to coronavirus, that would increase the virus’ death tally by a dramatic 32%.

As Yale University researchers have found elsewhere in the country, much of the likely undercount in each state can be explained by an unprecedented spike in deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza.

Read more: https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/pennsylvania-new-jersey-virus-death-undercount-statistics-20200526.html

[DeminPennswoods]

1. Maybe there's some value in analyzing

"excess" deaths, but it's an average and there are many variables from year to year. DoH seems to be taking a lot of care in reconcilling and reporting deaths primarily caused by covid19.

[FakeNoose]

2. This is a result of the failure to test properly

Or maybe we could say it was the REFUSAL to test properly.

I don't believe Pennsylvania hospitals were playing into the conservative agenda so much. The problem was that Covid tests weren't available in sufficient numbers and hospitals played a game of Russian Roulette over who would be tested and who would be sent home. If anything, the New Jersey hospitals got hit even worse than Pennsylvania.