Thomas Hughes Total deaths from the coronavirus in New York City surpassed the 10,000 mark on Tuesday, as the number of deceased was updated by city officials for the first time to include those who had died without a confirmed positive test—an addition of deaths greater than the total number of Americans that died in the attacks on September 11th, 2001.
Previous daily numbers had only included deaths in which a patient had a positive test, most of them in a hospital. The new numbers reflect deaths in the city from COVID-19 between March 11th and April 13th, 2020, and include for the first time deaths whose link to the coronavirus was listed as “probable.” According to The New York City Health Department, “A death is classified as probable when the person did not have a positive COVID-19 laboratory test, but their death certificate lists as the cause of death ‘COVID-19’ or an equivalent.”
That update added 3,778 people to the 6,589 people that had been confirmed to have COVID related deaths, and the new number reflects many of the people that died at home, without ever having gone to a hospital and received a positive test. It represents a 57% increase in the previously disclosed numbers. The new numbers show a peak on April 7th in New York City, with just less than 800 deaths on that day alone.
The update came after questions about residential and hospital deaths from patients that were not being tested, and amid scrutiny that the numbers were not being reported accurately. The numbers, however, will not be sent along to the Centers for Disease Control to include in the official national tally. City officials contend that the CDC has only requested being notified of deaths in which there was a confirmed positive test.
Accuracy of data regarding the coronavirus has been the subject of much controversy ever since the new disease was first reported in Wuhan, China in late 2019. To date, the numbers of total cases and deaths in China has been widely doubted by many Chinese citizens, US intelligence agencies, international health professionals, media organizations, and even the World Health Organization, which has indicated that the true numbers are not known, but the organization has worked with the best numbers available to it.
That did not spare the WHO from criticism from President Trump on Tuesday, who blamed the organization for responding slowly, relying too much on China’s opaque numbers and assurances, and criticizing his policy of restricting travel from China to the US in late January. The president announced that he would seek to cut all US funding to the WHO immediately, despite the ongoing pandemic.
Testing capacity has been at the forefront of criticism of the federal government’s response to the pandemic, and as the nation looks to reopen its economy, mitigation and trace testing remains far behind what is needed. Mayor De Blasio announced that New York City has plans to produce its own tests without relying on the federal government.
“Starting in a few weeks, we will be producing here in New York City, 50,000 test kits per week with components put together right here with companies, universities, New York City workers right here, building a brand new supply chain to feed this industry that will now develop in New York City,” he said.
