This has been the deadliest year in U.S. history, with an unprecedented death toll of more than 3 million, mostly from the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 320,000 Americans.
Final mortality data for this year will not be available for months, but preliminary data indicate that the United States is on track to see more than 3.2 million deaths this year – at least 400,000 more than in 2019.
Deaths in the United States increase every year, so an annual increase is always expected, but 2020 numbers mean a year-over-year increase of about 15% or more.
Seen as a percentage increase, it would mark the biggest jump in a year since 1918, when tens of thousands of American soldiers died in World War I and hundreds of thousands more died from a flu pandemic. Deaths increased 46% this year, compared to 1917.
The nation’s overall mortality rate fell slightly in 2019, due to reductions in deaths from heart disease and cancer.
Additionally, last year life expectancy increased, for several weeks, for the second year in a row, according to data from death certificates released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). .
Meanwhile, drug overdose deaths got much worse.
Even before the coronavirus arrived, the United States was in the midst of the deadliest drug overdose epidemic in its history.
Data for the entire 2020 is not yet available, but last week the CDC reported more than 81,000 overdose deaths in the 12 months ending May – the highest figure ever recorded in a 12-month period.
Experts believe one factor may have been the disruption caused by the pandemic in in-person treatment and recovery services. It is also more likely that more people have used drugs on their own, without the benefit of a friend or family member who could assist them to reverse an overdose.