Can anyone say for certain just how many died from Maria?
Apparently not,
From news accounts, we know the exact number: 48. I mean 64. At least 450. No, 985. More like 1,052, or maybe 1,085. It could be 4,645 or 5,740, one study said, or somewhere between 793 and 8,498. Or 2,975. Yeah, that’s it!
The one, true, absolutely correct answer is 2,975. We know that one is correct because it is the answer accepted by the Puerto Rican government, which, you may be certain—certain!—is interested only in the truth and not in the aid that comes with larger numbers.
There are 64 actual confirmed deaths—people whose names are known. President Trump, ever the skeptic, tweeted that the increase in the official count from 64 to 2,975 was “done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible.”
From The One True Puerto Rico Death Toll and Other Fictions