US COVID-19 Death Count Higher Than Previously Known: Study

The research suggests about 20 percent more COVID-19 deaths occurred than the official number.

A medic transfers a patient on a stretcher from an ambulance outside Coral Gables Hospital in Coral Gables, Fla. on July 30, 2020. Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

More COVID-19 deaths occurred in the United States than were previously known, researchers said in a new paper.

The researchers said in the study, published March 18 by Science Advances, that they identified 150,000 to 160,000 likely deaths from COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021 that had not been previously recognized.