After the opioid crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic is causing a drop in life expectancy in the United States, particularly affecting minorities. According to preliminary figures from US health authorities, life expectancy fell by one year in the first half of 2020, at the start of the epidemic’s devastation in the country.
“In the first half of 2020, life expectancy at birth for the entire US population was 77.8 years, down from one year” compared to 2019, says a CDC report. This is the lowest level since 2006 for the entire population, according to health authorities.
Most affected country in the world
Minorities have been hit the hardest by the drop: black people lost almost three years, Hispanics almost two, the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) said Thursday. Specifically, the black population lost 2.7 years of life expectancy in the first six months of 2020 (from 74.7 to 72). The Hispanic population lost 1.9 years (81.8 to 79.9), and the white population 0.8 years (at 78 years).
Members of minorities in the United States, who are more likely to hold jobs as a bus or train driver or work in supermarkets, have been particularly hard hit by the disease. African Americans and Hispanics are 2.8 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than white people, according to health authorities.
The United States is the country most affected in the world by the Covid-19 pandemic in absolute terms, with more than 490,000 dead.
