- CDC figures show that 2020 had the steepest single-year decline in life expectancy in the U.S.—from 78.8 years in 2019 to 77.3 last year—since World War II.
- “I myself had never seen a change this big except in the history books,” Elizabeth Arias, a CDC demographer and lead author of the new report.
- Because of the higher risk of exposure and lack adequate healthcare, Blacks and Hispanics are disproportionately affected by the sharp decline in life expectancy.
Jake Johnson, Common Dreams from Rawstory writes:
“New Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data out Wednesday shows that life expectancy in the U.S. fell by one and a half years in 2020, a decline fueled in large part by the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
“U.S. life expectancy at birth for 2020, based on nearly final data, was 77.3 years, the lowest it has been since 2003,” reads a new report (pdf) from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. “Mortality due to Covid-19 had, by far, the single greatest effect on the decline in life expectancy at birth between 2019 and 2020, overall.”
The new CDC figures indicate that 2020 saw the steepest single-year decline in life expectancy in the U.S.—from 78.8 years in 2019 to 77.3 last year—since World War II.
“I myself had never seen a change this big except in the history books,” Elizabeth Arias, a CDC demographer and lead author of the new report, told the Wall Street Journal.
Given that they are more likely to work jobs with a high risk of coronavirus exposure and lack adequate healthcare, Black and Hispanic people have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic and the resulting fall in life expectancy…”
See full story here.
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Economic Left 
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