New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned on Wednesday that the city’s actual death toll from the COVID-19 outbreak is much higher than official numbers show because many people die from the illness at home rather than the hospital.
“We’re talking about something like 100, 200 people per day,” he told CNN anchor John Berman. “Think of what this means for the families, think of the pain they’re going through. There’s no question the coronavirus is driving it.”
The mayor urged people to take the disease seriously because “the real death toll” is “even higher” than the 3,500 figure reported by the New York City Health Department based on hospital and lab data.
“We’ve got to realize just how destructive this is,” he said.
WNYC reported on Wednesday that the city’s health department will begin recording deaths of suspected coronavirus in people who passed away in their homes.
“The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) and the NYC Health Department are working together to include into their reports deaths that may be linked to COVID but not lab confirmed that occur at home,” department spokesperson Stephanie Buhle told Gothamist.
Watch de Blasio:
Bill de Blasio says 100-200 people are dying from COVID-19 per day at home. pic.twitter.com/xpNldGHQSX
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) April 8, 2020
You need to go to Jared (NOT)…
He has a plan to make peace with the death statistics…
Someone please tell Kushner that we already have a…
And that experts say:
Without universal testing – which we most likely will not have for quite a while now – the only way to tell how many people this is actually killing is going to be year-over-year mortality.
Many stories this morning on how it’s hitting communities of color harder - because they’re poor and have less access to healthcare. I’ve a feeling some R’s are seeing that as a ‘feature’ not a flaw. (Like the Alt Right who wanted to go out and spread it)
But much of the ‘Red’ states communities are also rural and poor. Sooner or later - it’s going to catch up to the core constituency as well. Lots of folks ‘dying at home’ in rural areas.
This is horrible.
EMTs in NYC are noting the number of deaths by ‘heart failure’ - has more than doubled on a daily basis - looking at their case loads. They can see it in real time.
Hydrochloroquin can cause congestive heart failure – one of the reasons sensible doctors are urging caution.