2020 set to be the deadliest year in US history, as Covid-19 ravages the country

 

22 Dec, 2020 16:39

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FILE PHOTO. © Getty Images / Misha Friedman 

Mortality data shows that the US is set to reach a grim milestone of more than 3 million deaths, making it the deadliest year in America history, due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. 

While official statistics will not be available for several months, initial figures suggest that the United States will record more than 3.2 million fatalities in 2020, an increase of, at least, 400,000 compared with the previous year.

If those numbers are confirmed, it would mark a 15% rise versus 2019, the biggest single-year increase in fatalities since 1918, when World War I and the Spanish Flu combined to result in a 46% spike in deaths when compared with 1917. 

According to the World Health Organization, America has experienced 315,318 deaths from coronavirus, with new daily infections in the country continuing to spike, regularly hitting around the 200,000 mark. 

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) fears that the ongoing pandemic could also have a more damaging long-term impact on the health of the country’s citizens, with the organization believing life expectancy could fall by as much as three full years. 

Alongside the other data, the CDC also revealed that drug overdose deaths have gotten significantly worse, contributing to the deadly statistics. In the year ending in May, the CDC reported that there had been 81,000 more drug overdoses, the highest figure ever recorded in a one-year time period. 

While the drug problem is not directly linked to the Covid-19 outbreak, it has been suggested that the problems it caused in the supply chain for dealers could have created a situation where cheaper and deadly substances were mixed and sold.