Non-Covid deaths increase in US compared to last year, finds study

The United States has witnessed a significantly higher number of deaths between March and May this year as compared to the same period last year and not all the additional deaths are caused by Covid-19, says a new study published with Public Health journal and reports IE.  The researchers, however, has not come down to any conclusion for this increased mortality rate.

The official records of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were analysed by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and found that the death rate not related to Covid-19 has outpaced the mortality rates recorded in 2019. Since full CDC numbers for 2019 was not available, the number was arrived at and compared with by calculating 2018 death estimates from the same health institute and 2019 population estimates from Census Bureau.

Men belonging to the age group between 15 and 59 years and women between 25 and 44 years died the most in 2020 without catching Covid-19 infection. The researchers expressed concern over the rising number of deaths and suggested the number will increase as people suffering from other health conditions are getting delayed treatment due to overload of covid cases and some deaths caused by Covid are getting undetected.

On the brighter side, deaths among girls aged 5 to 14 especially due to accidents were less. The only explanation the researchers came up with is the shutdown due to the pandemic that had a positive impact on the girls. The US has the world’s highest caseload and a death toll of coronavirus. New York has witnessed the highest number of Covid related fatalities followed by Texas.