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This analysis examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by race and ethnicity through the lens of premature mortality, using the measures of premature mortality rate and years of life lost among excess deaths that occurred during the pandemic.
This analysis finds that the U.S. had the highest rate of premature deaths amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021 among a group of 12 large, wealthy peer countries. The U.S. on average had more than two times the average years of life lost per 100,000 people as the United Kingdom, the country with the next highest rate.
Experiences with gun-related incidents are common across the country, with about one in five adults saying that they have personally been threatened with a gun (21%) or had a family member killed by a gun, including by suicide (19%), finds a new KFF survey about Americans’ experiences with gun-related violence and incidents.
• In the second half of 2023, opioid overdose deaths started to decline, and by December 2023, they were 20% fewer than there were in December 2022. Opioid death rates varied widely by race, ethnicity, age, and sex. In the second half of 2023, White people saw the largest decline (-14%) while declines in other racial and ethnic groups were much smaller. Opioid deaths increased for people 65+, while falling in all other age groups.
This post explores why the share of COVID-19 deaths among those who are vaccinated has risen, Factors include a rising share of the population that is vaccinated, waning immune protection and low uptake of boosters, and changes in immunity among the unvaccinated.
A new issue brief reviews excess death rates in the U.S. and peer countries by age groups to examine how the pandemic has affected excess mortality rate among younger people.
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