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COVID-19 in Italy: An Analysis of Death Registry Data.


ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:There are still many unknowns about COVID-19. We do not know its exact mortality rate nor the speed through which it spreads across communities. This lack of evidence complicates the design of appropriate response policies. METHODS:We source daily death registry data for 4100 municipalities in Italy's north and match them to Census data. We augment the dataset with municipality-level data on a host of co-factors of COVID-19 mortality, which we exploit in a differences-in-differences regression model to analyze COVID-19-induced mortality. RESULTS:We find that COVID-19 killed more than 0.15% of the local population during the first wave of the epidemic. We also show that official statistics vastly underreport this death toll, by about 60%. Next, we uncover the dramatic effects of the epidemic on nursing home residents in the outbreak epicenter: in municipalities with a high share of the elderly living in nursing homes, COVID-19 mortality was about twice as high as in those with no nursing home intown. CONCLUSIONS:A pro-active approach in managing the epidemic is key to reduce COVID-19 mortality. Authorities should ramp-up testing capacity and increase contact-tracing abilities. Adequate protective equipment should be provided to nursing home residents and staff.

SUBMITTER: Ciminelli G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7543414 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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COVID-19 in Italy: An Analysis of Death Registry Data.

Ciminelli Gabriele G   Garcia-Mandicó Sílvia S  

Journal of public health (Oxford, England) 20201101 4


<h4>Background</h4>There are still many unknowns about COVID-19. We do not know its exact mortality rate nor the speed through which it spreads across communities. This lack of evidence complicates the design of appropriate response policies.<h4>Methods</h4>We source daily death registry data for 4100 municipalities in Italy's north and match them to Census data. We augment the dataset with municipality-level data on a host of co-factors of COVID-19 mortality, which we exploit in a differences-i  ...[more]

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