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Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday said there’s ‘no doubt’ the COVID-19 death tolls are far higher than known.
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A new study estimates that more than 900,000 Americans have died from COVID-19.
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Health agencies and data trackers have recorded about 580,000 deaths in the US from the coronavirus.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, said Sunday that he’s not surprised new data shows the COVID-19 death toll has likely been severely undercounted.
A new study published earlier this week estimates that more than 900,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, nearly double the amount recorded by health officials and trackers.
Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, for example, has the coronavirus death toll in the US at around 581,000 people. A tracker from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a number within the same range, at about 577,000 deaths.
“We’ve been saying – and the CDC has been saying all along – that it is very likely that we’re undercounting,” Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Still, the model projected by the new study, conducted by researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, trended higher than expected.
The number projected – a little over 900,000 – is “a bit more than I would have thought the undercounting was,” he said. “But, you know, sometimes the models are right on line, sometimes they’re a bit off.”
“But I think there’s no doubt” Fauci added, “that we are and have been undercounting. What that tells us is something that we’ve known. You know, we’re living through a historic pandemic, the likes of which we haven’t seen in over a hundred years.”
The study and Fauci’s remarks come as government and health officials urge communities all over the country to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
About 33% of the US population has been fully vaccinated against the virus, according to CDC data.
Last week, President Joe Biden set a new vaccination goal: at least 70% of the country partially vaccinated by July 4.
“That means giving close to 100 million shots – some first shots, others second shots – over the next 60 days,” Biden said at the White House announcing the goal.
Nationwide, vaccination rates have slowed due to misinformation and hesitancy.
“In the next phase of the vaccination campaign, the Administration will make getting vaccinated more accessible than ever before, continuing to increase people’s confidence in the vaccines and ensuring that everyone is reached in the response,” the White House said in a news release.
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