In a year and a half of the pandemic, life expectancy in the United States dropped by a year and a half. A decline of these proportions has not occurred since the Second World War. This was reported by the New York Times citing statistics published by the federal agency of the National Center for Health Statistics. An American born today, if he were to live entirely in the general conditions of 2020, would reach an average of 77.3 years of life, compared to 78.8 if he did so under the conditions of 2019. The decline varies by race and ethnicity: African Americans, among the most affected by the Covid pandemic, lose almost two years of life compared to the white population. Among Hispanics, the expectation passes from 81.8 years to 78.8, that of African Americans from 74.7 to 71.8, while the white one sees a smaller decline, from 78.8 to 77.6.
The statistics, which measure expectation based on general health conditions, average pathologies and the level of general stress, are affected by the impact of Covid on the population which, in addition to creating precarious health conditions, has produced side effects, such as increased use of opioids to soothe pain and control stress and distress. So far the pandemic, according to updated data from Johns Hopkins University, has caused more than 34 million infections and 609,536 deaths in the US. But there is a precedent, the researchers say, that may lead to less pessimistic predictions about calculating life expectancy: the decline may not be permanent. After the flu that in 1918 caused over 50 million deaths, between the United States and the rest of the world, the life expectancy of Americans fell by 11.8 years. From the following year, as we emerged from the global pandemic, the data improved markedly.