Thread by @margheritamvs

Italy is undercounting thousands of deaths caused by the coronavirus. In towns across Lombardy, local officials and doctors told us the real Covid-19 deaths are at least twice the official numbers. @EricSylvers and I investigate:
wsj.com/articles/italy…

To be clear: Italy isn't deliberately hiding the real figures. But the public health-care system is so overstretched it can barely keep up with the living -- let alone test all the dead. “We know the real number is higher, and we mourn them, knowing full well why they died."

In the province of Bergamo 2,060 people died in March from the virus, according to the official count. But a study by @webecodibergamo estimates that there were 4,500 excess deaths in March, mostly attributable to the #coronavirus outbreak.

Here’s the link to the @webecodibergamo story (in English): ecodibergamo.it/stories/bergam…

Photo by @FrancescaVolpi on today's @WSJ front page, accompanying our story on Italy's uncounted dead.

https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/1245644681406345217?s=20

How did we figure out many more people have died than are recorded in the official #COVIDー19 death toll? We compared overall deaths in March 2020 with average deaths in previous years. The worst-hit cities in Italy are Brescia and Bergamo. Here’s the data from those cities (1/3)

Bergamo city
Overall deaths in March 2020: 553
Overall deaths in March 2019: 125
Confirmed Covid-19 deaths in March 2020: 201
Overall excess deaths: 428

Brescia city

Overall deaths in March 2020: 1160
Overall deaths in March 2019: c. 360
Confirmed Covid-19 deaths in March 2020: 216
Overall excess deaths: 800

I should add that the Comune di Brescia is not releasing data on overall deaths - and I see why. The city is very possibly worse off than anywhere else in Italy. (I got these figures from a different source)