According to the final 2020 death data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, there was a record increase in the overall death rate, and a 1.8 year drop in life expectancy in 2020 due to COVID-19.
The death rate went up 17% from 2019 with about 835 deaths per 100,000 people. It increased even more within ethnic and racial minority groups – the death rate among Hispanic people was three times greater than white people, while the death rate for Black people was twice as much.
The difference in death rate among minority groups isn’t due to genetics.
“As a doctor, there’s no logical reason a person should be more likely to die from a virus because of their skin color,” says Dr. Steven Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Society and Health. “It’s totally a product of what society has done.”
Data from the CDC shows that COVID-19 was the underlying cause of death for over 350,000 people in 2020. COVID-19 caused over 10% of all deaths, and was the third leading cause of deaths in 2020 – right behind heart disease and cancer.
According to the Oregon Health Authority, COVID–19 was the seventh leading cause of death in Oregon with a total of 1,436 deaths in 2020.
The death rate for other leading causes like diabetes, influenza, unintentional injuries, strokes, lower respiratory diseases, Alzheimer’s, and kidney disease also rose nationwide. There was a 17% increase in death rates for unintentional injuries – which includes deaths caused by drug overdoses, and a 15% increase in death rates for diabetes.
Chief mortality statistician for the CDC, Bob Anderson, says the cause of the increases in these death rates are likely related to COVID-19. “We know people with diabetes are more susceptible to more severe disease, and some of that increase could be COVID deaths that weren’t detected,” said Anderson.
Anderson adds that it may have been due to a lack of access to healthcare in 2020. Some patients may have been afraid to call 911 in emergency situations, or were unable to effectively maintain chronic illnesses due to stress and isolation.
While death rates in every age group 15 and older increased in 2020, the infant death rate reached a record low, with approximately 542 deaths per 100,000 live births.
By Momoko Baker
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