New Study Estimates Over 1,100 Killed by Hurricane Maria

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has put the death toll from Hurricane Maria between 1,006 and 1,272—which is 15 to 20 times higher than the government’s current estimate of 64. CNN reports that the study’s authors came to this conclusion by comparing the number of deaths in the months following the hurricane with the number of deaths that occurred in previous years, which is a common and accepted technique in demography. CNN also notes that the number falls on the low range of what was predicted by Harvard University’s landmark paper, which estimated the toll as anywhere between 793 and 8,498. In response to the growing outcry over the government’s extremely low estimate, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló announced a partnership with researchers from George Washington University this February, and stated that the government would not revise their total until GW’s researchers published their results. Study author Jeffrey T. Howard, however, is confident that the true total is far closer to his estimate than the government’s. “They clearly were not counting all of (the deaths),” he said. “They can't be. There were just too many deaths.”