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'That's a Lot of Deaths': Kemp Plan Spooks Georgia Coroners
https://www.thedailybeast.com/georgia-gov-brian-kemps-aggro-reopening-plan-spooks-georgia-coroners
“I think it’s a real possibility that we could be seeing under-reporting by anywhere from 10 to 20 percent,” one coroner said. Meanwhile, businesses are opening.
Justin Glawe
Published Apr. 29, 2020 4:46AM ET
Gene Proctor remembers one of the first times he told the family of a recently deceased Georgian that he couldn’t test their loved one for COVID-19.
It was early April, and a 58-year-old woman had passed away at home after years of battling multiple illnesses. The family wanted to know if the coronavirus had ultimately caused her death, but Proctor, the Floyd County Coroner, didn’t have a test.
“At first they were upset because I couldn’t test her and I said, ‘Look, the few tests that we do have, have to go to the people that are still alive,” Proctor told The Daily Beast. “I told the daughter, in fact, ‘You take care of your mother most of the time, so it would be more important to know that you had it then if she did.’”
Since then, testing has increased substantially in the state, according to Dr. Jose Vazquez, chief of infectious disease at the Medical College of Georgia - Augusta University. Meanwhile, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has invited a slew of non-essential businesses, from hair salons to restaurants, to reopen in recent days.
But even as that scheme proceeded this week, coroners across the state told The Daily Beast the actual number of deaths caused by the coronavirus was higher than the official count published each day by the Department of Public Health. That number stood at just more than 1,000 on Tuesday afternoon.
That the United States has previously undercounted coronavirus deaths, and coroners have often lacked tests to pick up the virus, has been well established.
</snip>
“I think it’s a real possibility that we could be seeing under-reporting by anywhere from 10 to 20 percent,” one coroner said. Meanwhile, businesses are opening.
Justin Glawe
Published Apr. 29, 2020 4:46AM ET
Gene Proctor remembers one of the first times he told the family of a recently deceased Georgian that he couldn’t test their loved one for COVID-19.
It was early April, and a 58-year-old woman had passed away at home after years of battling multiple illnesses. The family wanted to know if the coronavirus had ultimately caused her death, but Proctor, the Floyd County Coroner, didn’t have a test.
“At first they were upset because I couldn’t test her and I said, ‘Look, the few tests that we do have, have to go to the people that are still alive,” Proctor told The Daily Beast. “I told the daughter, in fact, ‘You take care of your mother most of the time, so it would be more important to know that you had it then if she did.’”
Since then, testing has increased substantially in the state, according to Dr. Jose Vazquez, chief of infectious disease at the Medical College of Georgia - Augusta University. Meanwhile, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has invited a slew of non-essential businesses, from hair salons to restaurants, to reopen in recent days.
But even as that scheme proceeded this week, coroners across the state told The Daily Beast the actual number of deaths caused by the coronavirus was higher than the official count published each day by the Department of Public Health. That number stood at just more than 1,000 on Tuesday afternoon.
That the United States has previously undercounted coronavirus deaths, and coroners have often lacked tests to pick up the virus, has been well established.
</snip>
2 replies
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