2,975: Trump Sets Record Death Toll in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossell'o announced Tuesday he is updating the official death count from Hurricane Maria to 2,975, matching that of a study released by George Washington University.
"Even though it's an estimate ... we are putting an official number to the death toll. We will take the 2,975 number as the official estimate for the excess deaths as a product of the hurricane," Rossell'o said at a press conference.
The number is a sharp increase from the government's initial official death toll of 64, a figure that many called into question following the publication of a Harvard study earlier this year that pegged the figure at several thousand.
Officials in Puerto Rico and the Trump administration have faced criticism over their preparedness for the storm, which ravaged the U.S. territory last fall, causing widespread power outages for months.
"I agree that we could be and should be more effective on the operational side ... I agree I made mistakes," Rossell'o said Tuesday. "This could have been done differently."