How many people have died from Covid-19 at home? Gradually, we begin to understand it better. Between March 1 and May 31 at least 1,800 people died in her home as a result of a coronavirus infection, according to the latest calculations by the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm).
These figures revealed by France Inter are still provisional. To arrive at a final assessment, Inserm does not yet have all the elements in hand. It is from the number of death certificates, bearing the mention "coronavirus" that these experts identify the number of cases. However, for the moment, 10% of the French departments of metropolitan France and overseas have not yet returned all their figures.
In a previous estimate, Inserm had reported 1,362 deaths (for only two months, March and April) but again, without having received all the certificates for the period concerned. This census is all the more delicate in that he has to look closely at how the doctor wrote the death certificate.
Death certificates not always explicit
Sometimes it's simple, the document is marked "Covid" or "Suspected Covid", sometimes it is less so, the doctor reporting other pathologies, in addition to the coronavirus, which could explain the death. In this case, experts from CépiDC (Inserm's Epidemiology Center on the Medical Causes of Death), the structure responsible within Inserm for this monitoring, look at the order in which the pathologies are mentioned ...
1,800 deaths in three months is, in any case, much lower than we feared. In May, the MG France general practitioner union evoked "the possibility of 9000 deaths". The latest statistics from INSEE seemed to support the slaughter. Between March 1 and April 20 alone, they had reported an excess mortality of 30% (all causes) in France compared to 2019. In Ile-de-France, it had even more than doubled (103%). Who to believe then?
The difference could be explained by poorly harmonized practices from one town hall to another, some civil status officials writing the personal address of the deceased person, even if the latter died elsewhere, for example. in Ehpad. This is part of what would explain this great imbroglio around the "deaths of the Covid at home", ultimately still uncountable.
