A new report suggested that North Carolina cannot properly ascertain the number of COVID-19 deaths because its reporting system is not fully implemented. | Stock Photo
A new report suggested that North Carolina cannot properly ascertain the number of COVID-19 deaths because its reporting system is not fully implemented. | Stock Photo
North Carolina’s true COVID-19 death toll is anyone’s guess because the state does not have an up-to-date system like several other states.
N.C. Political News published an article on July 23 from the Carolina Journal that showed the Tar Heel State is one of three still using a “dead tree” system. Five years ago, the General Assembly approved the purchase of an electronic system, but it does not operate statewide until next year, placing North Carolina behind most states by several years.
Lacking the data makes it difficult for experts to get a true count on the number of coronavirus fatalities in the state or even track the number of people who died because of the outbreak’s indirect impact, according to the report.
“We have no idea about how many people are dying, or what they’re dying of,” Joe Coletti, John Locke Foundation senior fellow, said in the Carolina Journal report on N.C. Political News. “This is actually a reason why death certificates are in [the North Carolina Division of] Public Health. This is a public health question. … This is the fog of COVID-19 data. We can’t answer questions.”
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