Fauci: Real coronavirus death toll 'almost certainly' higher than official 80,000 count

Authored by thehill.com and submitted by chrisdh79
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Anthony Fauci Anthony FauciThe Hill's Coronavirus Report: Sen. Barrasso says it's too soon to consider more funding for states; White House faces new challenges American Hockey League cancels playoffs for first time in 84-year history The Hill's 12:30 Report: White House scrambles after Pence aide tests positive for Covid MORE said Tuesday that the real number of deaths from coronavirus is "almost certainly" even higher than the official death toll of 80,000 because of the likelihood that some deaths went unrecorded.

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the Senate Health Committee during a virtual hearing that with health care systems overwhelmed, it's very likely a number of deaths were not recorded, meaning total deaths from the coronavirus across the country are likely higher than the already staggering toll of more than 80,000 now counted by Johns Hopkins University.

"Most of us feel that the number of deaths are likely higher than that number because given the situation particularly in New York City, when they were really strapped with a very serious challenge to their health care system, that there may have been people who died at home who were not counted as COVID because they never really got to the hospital," Fauci said during the hearing.

Fauci: "Most of us feel that the number of deaths are likely higher than [current count of 80,000+]. There may be people [in NYC] who died at home who did have COVID-19 who were not counted because they never really got to the hospital. I don't know exactly what percent higher." pic.twitter.com/SwKJ9ESuWT — CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) May 12, 2020

Asked by Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersDemocrats to adopt rules for limited or virtual convention The EPA's compliance order isn't a 'rollback,' it is a practical solution Kamala Harris leads the list of Biden running mates MORE (I-Vt.) if the real number of deaths could be even 50 percent higher than the official number of 80,000, Fauci said: "I think you are correct that the number is likely higher, I don't know exactly what percent higher, but almost certainly it's higher."

The comments drive home how devastating the death toll from the virus has been in the United States.

Even going by the recorded number of 80,000, the U.S. by far leads the world in total deaths, according to Johns Hopkins data, though numbers from China have been cast in doubt.

Following the U.S., the United Kingdom has about 32,000 deaths, and Italy has about 30,000 deaths.

xitzengyigglz on May 12nd, 2020 at 18:48 UTC »

Meanwhile the boomer relatives on my Facebook feed are saying officials are having every death marked as Corona to boost state funding.

yellowsidekick on May 12nd, 2020 at 17:12 UTC »

For reference.

Usually 3000 people die a week in holland (Tulips and windmills are real killers)... recently it’s peaked at 5000-ish a week. It’s finally now almost back at the norm after two months of social distancing.

Officially there are only 5510 corona deaths, but official means diagnosed. Lots of people in nursing homes/home died and are thus far not included in the stats.

Depressing times. Long distance Hugs for all.

booknerd420 on May 12nd, 2020 at 15:47 UTC »

This is pretty obvious, we can’t even test most living people we certainly aren’t testing all dead people and it’s not only people who go to the hospital that are dying. Back when cases first exploded in NYC, heart attack deaths at home increased about 200 a day, this is no coincidence unless you have a political agenda.