Puerto Rico Body Sues for Data to Help Track Hurricane Deaths
- Statistics institute sues health secretariat in local court
- Opacity of data vexed experts after last year’s catastrophe
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Puerto Rico’s statistics institute sued the island’s health secretariat for the timely release of current and future mortality records on the island, amid criticism that deaths in last year’s Hurricane Maria were grossly underreported.
The institute, an autonomous government entity that releases Puerto Rico data to the public, is seeking daily updates on deaths as the information becomes available. At present, no such resource is available, and the public had to rely on the governor and his cabinet for death count updates after last year’s storm.