US Life expectancy decline to lowest since 15 years, worst affecting Black Americans and Latinos
During the first half of the coronavirus pandemic, the United States observed the lowest dip in life expectancy rates. Black Americans and Latinos are the most affected. According to a study published on Thursday, it is the lowest in the last 15 years. An unprecedented decline has not been seen since WWII.
The United States was the worst affected by a deadly coronavirus, which definitely impacted life expectancy. The disparities highlighted in the study add to the mounting evidence of COVID-19’s disproportional effect on Blacks and Latinos, health experts say.
According to the researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. The data through June 2020 shows life expectancy at birth for the total U.S. population fell from 2019 by a year to 77.8 years, the lowest since 2006
The CDC data reports, “Black Americans are hospitalized with COVID-19 at 2.9 times the rate of white Americans and die at 1.9 times the rate”. Latinos are hospitalized at more than three times the rate and die more than twice the rate of white Americans.
While the life expectancy gap between Black, Latino, and white populations were narrowing before the pandemic, overall life expectancy was steadily declining because of a variety of public health issues, said Michal Engelman, associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
