More than 200,000 deaths occurred in the United States in 2020 than would have been expected according to trends in recent years, according to the knowledge of the Centers for Disease Control.
The figure includes all deaths since March 15, adding up to approximately 162,000 COVID-19 deaths since the onset of the pandemic in the United States.
But the 200,000 count is more than 50,000 deaths higher than the number of others who died as a result of known coVID-19 cases, suggesting that many more died from the disease or from pandemic-related disturbances.
The CDC tracks deaths observed week by week in the United States, based on normal reports from state fitness departments. In May, the firm launched an online tool that shows the knowledge it receives and compares it to estimates of the number of deaths that would occur in the United States based on trends in recent years, adjusted for population changes.
The tool takes into account report delays and a formula that adjusts the existing mortality rate to compensate.
The estimate, known as excess mortality, allows epidemiologists to diagnose the total number of deaths from a pandemic. Deaths of those who died of undiagnosed COVID-19, faced long waits by ambulance or hospital, or postponed the cureable disease remedy are included in the metric.
Epidemiologists consider maximum mortality to be one of the most productive tactics for capturing the evolution of a pandemic in relatively real time. CDC takes weeks to collect initial death figures for each state, but the company does not release definitive cause mortality statistics until at least two years after the incident.
“This technique assesses the effects on overall pandemic mortality elsewhere,” explains an article in The Lancet published in May. “Basically, the counts would be deaths from all causes, thus avoiding the disorders of what is or is a death attributable to COVID-19.”
The same approach to calculating excess deaths that was used after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, allowing civil servants to measure the real cost of a crisis that disadvantaged the island’s compulsory services.
The terrible milestone of 200,000 comes after two months in which increasing cases have been observed across the country, with primary epidemics in Arizona, Texas and Florida.
The expansion of cases in these states appears to have decreased, while deaths, an indicator of delay in the timetable, continue to increase.
At the same time, COVID-19 and reports of deaths due to diagnosed cases continue to spread. According to a New York Times estimate, only the states of Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, and West Virginia maintained mortality rates comparable to those of previous years.