A new study from a respected university data analysis center estimates that the actual number of people in the United States who died from coronavirus in the United States exceeds 900,000 people, more than 50% higher than generally accepted statistics.
The University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which the Trump administration touted as a source for accurate information early in the pandemic, used a variety of data points to calculate the number of COVID fatalities, excluding deaths due to other sources such as people who died because they failed to get medical care because of the pandemic, based on the the number of excess deaths over the course of the pandemic versus the calculated number of expected deaths.
Worldwide, the number of deaths from the coronavirus is also greatly underreported, the study claims, with worldwide deaths likely twice as high as the official numbers. This could be due to a lack of testing, inadequate reporting capabilities or intentional undercounting by governments.
Other medical staticians caution about relying on the calculations of excess mortality, saying at this point there are significant gaps in data that could be filled in over time.