Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have determined that the death toll from COVID-19 in the United States is much higher than official statistics suggest. More than 200,000 Americans have died from coronavirus infection. Experts presented their findings in an article published in the medRxiv preprint repository.
Researchers estimated the number of additional deaths from February to September 2020 that exceed the usual annual mortality rate. It turned out that for every 100 additional deaths directly related to COVID-19, there are 36 more deaths. In total, the excess deaths not directly related to the coronavirus account for 26 percent of the total number of additional deaths.
Most excess deaths are found in counties with high income inequality, high population density, and non-Hispanic black populations. This points to the vulnerability of residents suffering from socio-economic disadvantage to the effects of the pandemic.
Excessive mortality includes deaths from COVID-19 that have been attributed to other causes, as well as the indirect consequences of the pandemic on society. For example, people might not be able to seek medical help for other illnesses due to quarantine or fear of infection.
