Dimension of virus 'massacre' in Italy nursing homes grows

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Nicole Winfield and Trisha Thomas, Associated Press
Updated 2:34 pm CDT, Friday, April 17, 2020

ROCCA DI PAPA, Italy (AP) — The World Health Organization has called it a “massacre.” The Health Ministry sent in inspectors. Prosecutors are investigating, and an appalled mayor said the managers of a residential facility she ordered sealed had “jeopardized the life and health of the most fragile.”

A scandal over coronavirus infections and deaths in Italy’s nursing homes took on broader dimensions Friday, with the National Institutes of Health conservatively estimating that at least 6,773 residents had died since Feb. 1, 40% of them either infected with the virus or with COVID-19 symptoms.

The true number is higher, since the agency surveyed a fraction of Italy's eldercare homes and few residents of nursing homes nationwide were ever tested. But the institute's survey gave a sample of the toll since Feb. 1: In hard-hit Bergamo province, 534 residents died. The province of Milan reported 749 deaths in nursing homes.

Some 36% of the thousands of deaths cited by the National Institutes of Health occurred in the second half of March, the period when infections were at their height in Italy and the country had the most virus-related deaths in the world.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/article/Dimension-of-virus-massacre-in-Italy-nursing-15208321.php

[BigmanPigman]

1. A lot of states and countries and cities

are reporting new deaths in the past two days as they are now being told to count the probable deaths. China has done this and NY too, however some are not following these guidelines so the real numbers are going to be very different than where they were only a few days ago.

[Angrybob2001]

2. Accurate Death Count

In the next year or five, they will be able to look at deaths worldwide and get a better idea of the number of increased deaths during the time period and make and better guess than the initial death count. You saw the same thing in PR with hurricane Maria.