About 2 weeks ago, I wrote a diary suggesting that the best measure of the death toll for Corona Virus would be excess deaths, and asked for any sources.
Well, the good folks at the Financial Times have done a study, albeit a limited one, and while limited, they show an under-count of about 60%.
Considering the generally crappy nature of US testing, the divergence between the excess deaths numbers and reported deaths may be larger:
The death toll from coronavirus may be almost 60 per cent higher than reported in official counts, according to an FT analysis of overall fatalities during the pandemic in 14 countries.
Mortality statistics show 122,000 deaths in excess of normal levels across these locations, considerably higher than the 77,000 official Covid-19 deaths reported for the same places and time periods.
In any case, this is grim.
I would note that all of the excess deaths are likely due to Covid-19, but a lot are probably not FROM Covid-19, as things like delayed treatments for things like cancer and heart attacks are likely resulting from the lockdown.
Still, it’s a lot worse than the seasonal flu.