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ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.wsj.com/articles/puerto-rico-governor-orders-review-of-hurricane-death-toll-1513614444\nPuerto Rico Governor Orders Review of Hurricane Death Toll\nWhile official tally is 64, analyses suggest actual figure could approach or exceed 1,000\nCritics have the government wasn’t sufficiently taking into account deaths resulting from, for instance, an inability to transport a patient in dire condition to a hospital. Photo: hector retamal/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images\nArian Campo-Flores\nBiographyArian Campo-Flores\n@acampoflores\nArian.Campo-Flores@dowjones.com\nDec. 18, 2017 11:27 am ET\nPuerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló ordered a review of the official death toll stemming from Hurricane Maria, in the face of persistent criticism that his administration significantly undercounted such fatalities.\nMr. Rosselló directed the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry and the Department of Public Safety to examine all fatalities that occurred since Maria, regardless of what death certificates say. He also called for the creation of a panel of experts to evaluate the effectiveness of the island’s current system of certifying deaths.\n“We always expected that the number of hurricane-related deaths would increase as we received more factual information—not hearsay—and this review will ensure we are correctly counting everybody,” said Mr. Rosselló in a statement released by his office on Monday. He said an accurate count will help inform how they can “prevent fatalities in advance of future disasters.”\nWhile the official death toll stands at 64, several analyses in recent weeks by news organizations including the Puerto Rico Center for Investigative Journalism and the New York Times concluded that the actual figure could approach or exceed 1,000.\nIn the 40 days after Maria hit Puerto Rico on Sept. 20 as a Category 4 storm, there were at least 985 more deaths than there were in the same period in 2016, the Center for Investigative Journalism found. The majority of the deaths were among people over 50 years old who perished in hospitals and nursing homes from conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, according to the study. The average daily death rate jumped notably in the days soon after the storm, the study found.\nHouse Republicans Release Disaster-Relief Bill\nAnother analysis by a Pennsylvania State University professor and an independent researcher concluded that the actual death toll could exceed the official one by a factor of 10.\nMaria—the worst storm to hit the island in almost a century—knocked out power for 100% of the island and it was restored only gradually. That forced hospitals to rely on generator power and left many residents without power needed to refrigerate vital medicines like insulin. As of Monday, electricity generation on the island was at 70% of capacity.\nSince the early aftermath of the storm, Mr. Rosselló’s administration has faced questions about the accuracy of its fatality count. Critics said the government wasn’t sufficiently taking into account deaths resulting from, for instance, a lack of dialysis treatment for someone suffering from kidney disease, or an inability to transport a patient in dire condition to a hospital.\nMr. Rosselló said Monday he welcomed the recent analyses of the death count, which relied on data provided by the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry. But “we cannot base any official fatality related to the hurricane count on statistical analysis,” he said. “Every life is more than a number, and every death must have a name and vital information attached to it, as well as an accurate accounting of the facts related to their passing.”\nCopyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8\nShow Conversation Hide Conversation (15)\nSenate Passes Trump Impeachment Trial Rules Proposed by McConnell\nFancy Meals and Loans for Friends: China’s Banks Face Costly Cleanup\nBoeing Pushes Back Expected MAX Return\nCarole Ghosn, in Defending Her Husband, Takes On Japan’s Legal System\nTexans Try to Keep Christmas Snow in Their Freezers—For 15 Years\nWhen Social Media Is Too Much, Some Teens Tune Out\nThis article has been sent to\nCopyright © 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved"