The Pain of the COVID Pandemic Was Not Spread Equally

Research shows how excess deaths clustered among non-white racial groups.

From March of 2020 to May of 2023, 1.38 million more people died in the United States than would have been expected. 1.38 million lives that, had circumstances been different, would not have been lost.

This is the legacy of the COVID pandemic. And I want to be clear, not all of these deaths are directly due to COVID — we’ll explore the deaths attributable to the virus in a minute. But the pandemic itself — the changes it wrought on society — the delayed cancer screenings, the missed outpatient appointments — all of these acted to change our fundamental understanding of the risk of living in this country.

And of course, that 1.38 million number reflects the other side of this coin — a reduction in deaths from traffic accidents, for example, as fewer people were on the road.

Perhaps we can look at those excess deaths and wonder what we could have changed to make a difference. Or perhaps we can look at that number and say, yes, this is tragic, but it’s the price we all paid for a global pandemic. Of course, that last statement would be easier to make if we all paid the same price. But, as new research now shows — this is not the case.