when the numbers don’t add up, they complain but when the numbers seem absurbly inflated, there’s always, always, and explanation.
The best check of medical records is through civil mortality records, as the article states. Spain has been using these all along as the Spanish civil records system is very efficient and gives accurate numbers with little lag time (daily updates).
Daily updates are here -
https://www.isciii.es/quehacemos/servicios/vigilanciasaludpublicarenave/enfermedadestransmisibles/momo/paginas/informes-momo-2020.aspx
The Spanish civil records based 2020 year to date death count vs the “normal” observed mortality trendline was 30,807 as of yesterday, vs about 27,500 reported medically, or about a 10% undercount through medical reporting.
Its certainly possible that the Italians are doing significantly worse than Spain in counting deaths, that is, missing 30% of them vs Spain’s 10%.
I would absolutely rely on the civil records for accuracy in assessing the impact of covid.
Unfortunately US civil records reporting systems seem to be a mess and we cannot expect anything accurate from that for months.