According to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday, life expectancy in the United States has fallen sharply between 2019 and 2020.CDC). But all demographics have fallen to different degrees.
According to new data collected by the National Health Center
According to statistics (NCHS), the life expectancy of Hispanics has fallen the most, at three years, the life expectancy of black Americans has dropped by 2.9 years, and the life expectancy of white Americans has dropped by 1.2 years.
The report stated that approximately 75% of the decline was due to deaths from COVID-19-the largest one-year decline since World War II. According to the report, “the racial and ethnic mortality gap in life expectancy in 2020 has widened.”
Race and economic differences are an undeniable part of the spread of COVID-19 among the U.S. population in 2020. Many factors have led to an increase in infections and deaths among people in underfunded and underserved communities.
There are overall differences in access to healthcare between Hispanic and black communities and white communities. New York Times According to the report, blacks and Hispanics are more likely to engage in high-risk, face-to-face jobs, such as cleaners, food service workers, and sanitation workers, than white-collar jobs that can perform virtual work at home, and have less potential exposure to the coronavirus.
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Blacks and Hispanics are also more likely to rely on public transportation or live in houses of multiple generations-all of these factors lead to higher community transmission rates and lower overall life expectancy.
The report said: “Among the reasons for the negative impact on life expectancy changes, COVID-19 contributed 90% to the Hispanic population, 67.9% to the non-Hispanic white population, and 59.3% to the non-Hispanic black population. “Among other causes of death that have negatively affected changes in life expectancy, accidental injuries, homicides, and diabetes affect all three Hispanic and ethnic groups.”
It is worth noting that the life expectancy figures are not intended to accurately predict the actual life expectancy of a particular group of people. Rather, they are designed to measure the overall health of the population.
For a long time, the average life expectancy of Americans has been rising until the opioid crisis in 2014 began to hit these numbers. Many experts say that the pandemic has exacerbated the opioid crisis, which means that the decline in life expectancy is due to deaths from COVID-19, but it also has an impact on the overall health of societies in crisis.
Weekly newspaper Contact the Center for American Progress to comment on racial and ethnic health differences.
