World

Covid-19 projected to reduce Americans’ life expectancy – USC/Princeton study

Published

Friday, January 15, 2021 17:02

PHOTO: TRT World

With Covid-19 linked to more than 336,000 deaths in the United States, American’s life expectancy will decline, especially among black and latino people, according to researchers from the University of Southern California and Princeton University.

The study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that life expectancy at birth for Americans will shorten by 1.13 years to 77.48 years, while blacks and latinos life expectancy is expected to shorten by more.

For blacks, their life expectancy would shorten by 2.10 years to 72.78 years, and for Latinos, by 3.05 years to 78.77 years. This is said to be the lowest life expectancy estimated since 2003. The disproportionate impact on the 3 groups of populations is believed to relate to social and economic advantages.

The study author Theresa Andrasfay, a postdoctoral fellow at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, says that why the study analyses the number of deaths and how it affects the life expectancy at birth, it also shows the consequences for marginalized groups.

“The Covid-19 pandemic’s disproportionate effect on the life expectancy of Black and Latino Americans likely has to do with their greater exposure through their workplace or extended family contacts, in addition to receiving poorer health care, leading to more infections and worse outcomes.”

The researchers say life expectancy is an important indicator of a population’s health and a tool for examining the impact of COVID-19 on survival.

SOURCE: USA Today | University of South California

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15 Comments

Brian

Friday, January 15, 2021 at 7:57 pm

Unfalsifiable fear propaganda.

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Slugger

Friday, January 15, 2021 at 8:13 pm

Oh well. Every cloud………

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Ben

Friday, January 15, 2021 at 11:16 pm

They’re old, useless and don’t have much life left to live anyway. Right Brian, Buttaxe, Phil, etc?

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- Brian
  
  Saturday, January 16, 2021 at 10:27 am
  
  I get the impression you find it much easier to debate with people when you make up their side of the conversation and put your words in their mouths as if they said them.
  
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  - Mister Stretch
    
    Saturday, January 16, 2021 at 10:57 am
    
    Actually, Brian, I would be happy to debate you.
    
    Your contentions that it’s okay to let the virus run rampant because the people it kills are “old and useless” is so much posturing BS.
    
    You seem to only look at the death, not at the economic costs of caring for those that have fallen ill…regardless of age. In many parts of the world, health care systems are straining to the breaking point, if not already broken, in attempting to care for those that have the virus and conditions significant enough to warrent hospitalization.
    
    Earlier, in response to one of you idiots who only count dead bodies, I mentioned that it would be different if it was your mother, or your long-ill father, your asthmatic sister, or your child who developed Type 1 diabetes when young. It would be different if it were your wife, your boss whose job puts a roof over your head and food in your mouth, allowing you to care for your family.
    
    It’s easy to sit behind your keyboard and piss on the world as being “scared” when you think the numbers – when compared to anything else – are insignificant. But they aren’t, for the reasons I stated and of which, obviously, are oblivious.
    
    Spare us your holier-than-thou viewpoint that the deaths of those that are afflicted with this disease aren’t worthy of your consideration.
    
    Spare us your narrow-minded, self-centered, self-serving bile of an opinion.
    
    It’s not fear-mongering. It’s fear. A righteous fear of a virus that has claimed nearly 2 million lives in a year, perhaps many more.
    
    Spare us.
    
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    - Issan John
      
      Saturday, January 16, 2021 at 11:16 am
      
      Mr S, I couldn’t have said it any better.
      
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      - Brian
        
        Saturday, January 16, 2021 at 12:47 pm
        
        You and he are both delusional. Like I clearly said, you seem to enjoy putting words in other people’s mouths. You both seem to be expert mind-readers. There’s really no need for me to say anything, since you’ll ignore it and make up your own dialogue.
  - Ben
    
    Sunday, January 17, 2021 at 4:43 am
    
    Nice attempt to try to turn it around and make it about me.
    
    Answer the question: Do you agree that they’re old, useless and don’t have much life left to live anyway? Do you agree or disagree?
    
    Do you agree they’re expendable? And their deaths are insignificant in order for you, as a productive individual, to be able to get on with your life and be less convenienced? That putting on a mask is to much trouble for you to save them?
    
    I didn’t make up these lines of thought to put them in your mouth. I read them here from those that think similar to you. These thoughts aren’t natural to me and would never have occurred to me.
    
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- Jake Pattaya
  
  Thursday, January 21, 2021 at 1:49 pm
  
  Ben you will also die so why do you want to have few more years anyway? My economy doesn’t need you. Are you just an idiot Ben or you are a devil?
  It’s like during Adolf Hitler time in Germany when nazis were killing their own people because they were not perfect. I knew people who would be able to live next 20 years with diabetes, but they dead now, so please spare us your BS
  
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Issan John

Saturday, January 16, 2021 at 11:19 am

That would put them on a par with Thailand, and “blacks” in the US way behind Thais.

That’s more than a little genuinely sad.

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- dispensed
  
  Saturday, January 16, 2021 at 1:39 pm
  
  That explains why Thais and other people around the world are just clamouring to get into the USA and not the other way around.
  
  So tired of USA bashing, not because the USA doesn’t deserve to be bashed for certain aspects of its society, but because people like you have turned it into a completely mindless exercise in group think.
  
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dispensed

Saturday, January 16, 2021 at 1:37 pm

This is a case of what’s known as displaced mortality and will be offset by falling mortality in the years to come.

But it WILL shorten lives, the lives of the young and poor people due to the dumb response which makes everyone poorer, dumber, and less healthy. They won’t even live long enough to have to worry about covid.

Thank you very much, fake journos, for shortening billions of lives with your mass hysteria.
Doctors should go back into their hospitals and stay there.

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- Issan John
  
  Saturday, January 16, 2021 at 8:20 pm
  
  So the “doctors” are to blame and have it wrong too?
  
  I see ……….
  
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  - dispensed
    
    Sunday, January 17, 2021 at 2:26 pm
    
    Yes, they are to blame for pushing an irrational response which makes everyone poorer, dumber, and less healthy. Duh.
    
    They should stay in their hospitals.
    
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Ben

Sunday, January 17, 2021 at 4:34 am

To people like Brian, Buttaxe and Phil, I don’t expect to convince you to understand and accept my position and visa versa. We’re never going to agree.

There’s a certain group of people that care about:

1. Money and business first versus people second
2. Individual liberties first versus the public good second
3. Making America Great Again (code for Anglos dominating and in-charge again) first versus those that are most qualified regardless of race second

And there are people on the other side.

I’m American and love my country. If I say something negative, it’s because I don’t agree with how it’s been run lately. Instead of making it great again I think it’s a mess. The Capitol riot is the result of some people coming out on the losing side of a democratic election and not liking it so they tried to hijack it. I don’t always like election results but it doesn’t mean I’m going to attack our democratic institutions. That’s treason. Now that many of these people are being arrested – they’re now very sorry and remorseful? WTF? If they were true patriots and revolutionaries, like Buttaxe they’d take it like a man. Accept they were treasonous to our democratic society and take your punishment without complaint. Instead they’re just a bunch of pussies now that they’ve been caught.

Some here criticize Thailand’s COVID approach and some support it. The one thing we can all agree on is we want to go to Thailand without quarantine and other frictions. It’s ok for us to disagree. Thailand is going to do what they are going to do regardless of what we think. I guess I’m a bit sensitive when I see minimization of death and suffering, accusations of fear mongering, utilization of statistics that are fake and lack of empathy for people that are more vulnerable. It reminds me of tactics used in my country and how it has handled this disease the past year with disastrous consequences. It saddens me we couldn’t come together to do what was best for our nation and for ourselves.

Keep commenting because I’m curious about what you think even though I might not agree with it. We’re all anonymous here so it’s safe.

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