Half-Million Excess U.S. Deaths in 2020 Hit Minorities Worse

Racial and ethnic minorities accounted for a disproportionate number of the half million excess deaths last year, according to a new U.S. study that examines mortality both directly and indirectly related to Covid-19.

Researchers compared the number of people who died from March to December 2020 with the number of deaths that had been projected to occur before the pandemic. They found 477,200 excess deaths, with more than twice as many occurring among Blacks, Latinos, American Indians and Alaskan Natives compared with Whites and Asians of similar age. About 74% of the excess deaths were attributed to Covid-19.

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Lack of access to testing and a higher chance of being exposed to Covid at work contributed to higher infection rates among minorities, according to Thomas LaVeist, dean of the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. {snip}

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They found the discrepancy in excess deaths was even wider for conditions not related to Covid-19. Excess mortality for Black, American Indian and Alaskan Native men and women was three to four times higher from conditions not related to Covid-19 compared with Whites.

These disparities were particularly pronounced among people ages 75 and older, in whom non-Covid deaths were 9 times higher for Black men compared to White men.

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Black Americans, for example, have a higher mortality rate for all cancers combined than any racial or ethnic group, and Latinos have a higher death rate from diabetes than White Americans. Indigenous people remain understudied, according to Cohen, but research has shown that American Indians and Alaskan Natives have a life expectancy that’s 5.5 years shorter than all other races in the U.S., with more deaths from liver disease, diabetes and accidental injuries.

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