Johns Hopkins University staff said they estimate that more than a million people have died in the US as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The population of the country is 332.5 million. For every 100,000 Americans, there are 291 deaths from covid, writes The Guardian. Only two countries in the world, Brazil and Poland, have higher death rates per 100,000 people.
1 million deaths are directly related to covid. The number of so-called excess deaths - that is, those that the pandemic has accelerated - reached 1 million as early as mid-February. This, for example, includes deaths from chronic diseases such as hypertension, dementia, heart disease. Drug overdose deaths in the United States reached a record level in 2021 - 100,000 Americans died from that.
High mortality, which distinguishes the United States from other rich countries, experts explain the costly health care system: 28 million Americans do not have health insurance, government errors and social inequality. Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans were infected, hospitalized, and died from Covid-19 at twice the rate of their white counterparts. Members of the minority, low-income people and residents of rural areas were vaccinated later than the rest.
The pandemic has exacerbated the situation with preventable and treatable infectious diseases. Pediatricians and psychiatrists speak of a mental health crisis among young people. Sexually transmitted diseases have reached record levels in U.S. history as medical centers have been refocused to fight covid.