Yet another reason to doubt the Hurricane Maria death toll

[struggle4progress]

(CNN) – No one knows — or may ever know — exactly how many people died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. But an increasingly tall stack of evidence indicates the official government estimate — 64 deaths — misses the mark. By a long shot.

A research letter published Thursday in the medical journal JAMA estimated that between 1,006 and 1,272 people died in relation to the storm.

That’s about 15 to 20 times the Puerto Rican government’s figure.

“They clearly were not counting all of (the deaths),” Jeffrey T. Howard, assistant professor of health at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and one of the study’s authors, said of the Puerto Rican government. “They can’t be. There were just too many deaths” ...

http://www.630wpro.com/news/heres-yet-another-reason-to-doubt-the-hurricane-maria-death-toll/

[struggle4progress]

1. New study sheds light on death toll in Puerto Rico

By SARAH LYNCH BALDWIN
CBS NEWS
August 2, 2018, 12:23 PM

... The findings took into account people who died from both the hurricane's immediate impact and its secondary effects during the months after it barreled into Puerto Rico in September.

"If we have a better idea of the damage that Hurricane Maria actually did, then maybe we can use that experience to inform and reshape protocols, policies and emergency management protocols," Alexis Raúl Santos, an assistant professor of human development and family studies at Penn State, said in a news release on the findings.

The news release says this study is different from other estimates that used data from surveys or government agencies, "which may not be reliable." A Harvard University study released in May said the hurricane was likely responsible for more than 4,600 deaths, a figure that was based on results of a door-to-door survey of 3,299 randomly selected homes across the island.

The new study points out that the official death toll only counts people who have a "hurricane-related" cause of death on their death certificate, and does not account for "indirect deaths," such as people who died from infectious disease outbreaks, lack of access to medical care, or outages of water and electricity ...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-study-death-toll-from-hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-2018-08-02/