Coronavirus: NYC death toll crosses 10,000 as revised count adds 3,778 who had symptoms but were not tested
The death toll in New York City has shot past 10,000 after city officials added possible COVID-19 victims — people who were not tested for the disease but may have died of it — to the tally. The new tally includes 3,778 more people who died after showing COVID-19 symptoms but were not tested. The NYC Health, which released the data on its website on April 13, expects the figures to change in the coming days.
"Behind every death is a friend, a family member, a loved one. We are focused on ensuring that every New Yorker who died because of COVID-19 gets counted,” Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot said in a statement. “As a city, it is part of the healing process to be able to grieve and mourn for all those that have passed because of COVID-19. While these data reflect the tragic impact that the virus has had on our city, they will also help us to determine the scale and scope of the epidemic and guide us in our decisions."
The change comes after the Fire Department reported an unusual number of New York City residents dying at their homes or on streets. The department recorded 1,125 fatalities on the first five days of April, which was more than eight times the deaths recorded during the same period last year.
“In the heat of battle, our primary focus has been on saving lives,” Freddi Goldstein, press secretary for NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, told The New York Times. “As soon as the issue was raised, the mayor immediately moved to release the data," she added.
Additionally, the growing number of deaths in the city has overwhelmed morgues and mortuaries. For instance, workers in a public cemetery on Hart Island are burying over 24 bodies a day. There are about two dozen bodies a day, five days a week buried on the island, Jason Kersten, a spokesman for the Department of Correction, which oversees the burials, told Reuters.
According to data from John Hopkins University, the overall death toll in the US has crossed 25,000. Globally, the virus has 126,681 people.
Pandemic could be linked to deaths not associated with COVID-19
COVID-19 is overwhelming hospitals too. As a result, patients suffering from other diseases are not getting adequate care. COVID-19 could be driving the uptick in deaths at home, said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Dr Barbot attributes them to the disease. She pointed out that this year, NYC recorded 3,000 more deaths between March 11 and April 13, which is higher than the expected count during the same period in a typical year.
“This is yet another part of the impact of Covid,” she told NYT, adding that more studies will provide conclusive information on the effects.
“What New Yorkers are interested in, and what the country is interested in, is that we have an accurate and complete count,” Dr Barbot added. “It’s part of the healing process that we’re going to have to go through," she added.