In the first 3 months of the US coronavirus epidemic, the number of excess deaths in the United States was 122,300, 28% higher than the reported number of COVID-19 deaths, according to an observational study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.Led by researchers from Yale University, the study analyzed data from the National Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to better characterize the burden of the novel coronavirus during the beginning of the US epidemic and compare death counts to those of the same period in previous years.Substantial variation among statesFrom Mar 1 to May 30, there were about 781,000 all-cause deaths in 48 states, 95,235 officially attributed to COVID-19, leaving