Estimating the early death toll of COVID-19 in the United States.

ABSTRACT: Efforts to track the severity and public health impact of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, in the US have been hampered by testing issues, reporting lags, and inconsistency between states. Evaluating unexplained increases in deaths attributed to broad outcomes, such as pneumonia and influenza (P&I) or all causes, can provide a more complete and consistent picture of the burden caused by COVID-19. We evaluated increases in the occurrence of deaths due to P&I above a seasonal baseline (adjusted for influenza activity) or due to any cause across the United States in February and March 2020. These estimates are compared with reported deaths due to COVID-19 and with testing data. There were notable increases in the rate of death due to P&I in February and March 2020. In a number of states, thes

SUBMITTER: Weinberger DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7217085 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature