I work with an MD who is considered a leader in emergency medicine and critical care and we have colleagues that work in nyc.
Yes if a patient comes here and passes due to cardiac arrest or shock or trauma we can say the cause of death and sign the death certificate.
However, what we are being told is that due to covid being a new disease the medical examiner in nyc has to review it or co-sign or whatever. The reason being is that there are many reasons for the patient to die from covid 19. Covid 19 respiratory failure, organ failure, thrombotic event, myocarditis, encephalitis etc.
This can all be second hand info that’s being misinterpreted. It’s not that the covid patients are being autopsied or anything. But that’s the reason for the lag in the numbers in deaths. Or at least that’s what we’re being told. Maybe the fact that it takes a few days for the attending to sign the death certificate and have it recorded can also be the issue (more likely) But when a metro area gets hit so hard in such a short time, protocols change on a daily basis and maybe their just trying to make sure sht is right.