At-home COVID-19 deaths could be significantly undercounted in NEW YORK
08 April, 2020
The daily tally of NEW YORK residents who died aware of coronavirus-like symptoms exploded from 45 on March 20 to 241 on April 5, according to Fire Department of NY data - suggesting the city may be drastically undercounting COVID-19 deaths.
Asked about the fire department numbers at a press conference Tuesday, NEW YORK Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged that deaths in the home haven't been fully accounted for.
“It's to assume a large proportion are coronavirus related," he said. "And that means it is a lot more sober in the sense of just how many persons we are losing, just how many families are suffering, how real this crisis is.”
The fire department data are based on information collected during emergency calls involving cardiac or respiratory arrest, with fever and cough. Those are symptoms characteristic of a serious case of COVID-19, the condition due to the coronavirus.
Although those symptoms also could fit diseases such as for example influenza, the steep rise coincides with the surge in COVID-19 cases in New York City, the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus epidemic.
The data raise questions about the city's official tally indicating coronavirus deaths had leveled off in recent days (before rising again Tuesday).
The official daily death rate had stayed relatively flat, going from 309 on from March 31 to 290 on April 5, according the health department’s website. Throughout that same period, in line with the fire department data, the quantity of daily deaths at home among people with COVID-19-like symptoms rose from 167 to 241.
A spokesman for metropolis Department of Health insurance and Mental Hygiene, which certifies findings on factors behind death, said the state death count only includes those that had a test confirming these were infected with the virus.
The spokesman didn't know what portion of people who died in the home have been tested but said the department and metropolis Office of Chief Medical Examiner will work on counting the cases where the deceased didn't have a test.
The fire department wouldn't normally comment on the importance of its figures, which first were reported on the website gothamist.com.
In line with the data, a total of 2,192 at-home deaths were reported from March 20 to April 5. The town death count by that day, including a huge selection of deaths among the practically 16,000 hospitalized for the condition, was about 2,500. It now exceeds 3,200.
Calls through the coronavirus outbreak in NY are swamping 911 emergency responders, the info show.
Between March 20 and April 5, the quantity of Covid-19-like cases, including patients who survived, tripled, from 94 to 322, according to fire department data.
The percentage of calls where paramedics could not save the person rose from 48% percent to 75%.
“It’s never-ending,” said a fire department paramedic lieutenant who asked not to be identified. “And it’s getting worse every day.”
Before the coronavirus outbreak, the lieutenant said, the five boroughs averaged 10 to 20 calls a day that led to death.
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
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