Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Tuesday that the United States’ coronavirus death toll is likely higher than the official count reported by Johns Hopkins University.
A transcript is as follows:
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: The official statistic is that 80,000 Americans have died from the pandemic. There are some epidemiologists that suggest the number may be 50 percent higher than that. What do you think?
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI: I’m not sir if it’s going to be 50 percent higher, but most of us feel that the number of deaths is likely higher than that number, because given the situation, particularly in New York City, when they were strapped with a serious challenge to their healthcare system, that there may have been people who died at home, who did have COVID who are not counted as COVID because they never really got to the hospital. A direct answer to your question, I think you are correct that the number is likely higher. I don’t know exactly what percent higher, but almost certainly it’s higher.
