Puerto Rico's governor says there will be 'hell to pay' if officials withheld mortality data [View all]

[DonViejo]

Source: CNN




By Emanuella Grinberg, CNN

Updated 8:46 AM ET, Fri June 1, 2018

(CNN) - Puerto Rico's governor defended his government's efforts to account for deaths on the island following Hurricane Maria after a new study called the official tally a "substantial underestimate."

The official death toll in Puerto Rico has been the subject of substantial controversy since Hurricane Maria hit the island, a US territory, on September 20. Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said he welcomed the results of a Harvard study published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers surveyed 3,299 randomly chosen households across the island and compared it to official mortality statistics from 2016. They concluded that an estimated 4,645 people died in Hurricane Maria and its aftermath in Puerto Rico -- almost 70 times the government's official tally of 64.

Rosselló said he does not stand by the official death toll. But he said his government did the best it could with information-gathering protocol available to them at the time.



Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/31/us/puerto-rico-governor-responds-to-study/index.html