The coronavirus pandemic was much deadlier for Blacks, Native Americans and Latinos in its first year, according to a new study.
The National Cancer Institute study, published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine journal, found that there were “profound racial/ethnic disparities” in excess deaths in the U.S. last year during the pandemic, resulting in rapid increases in racial/ethnic disparities in all-cause mortality between 2019 and 2020.
The study found that roughly 477,000 excess deaths occurred beyond the expected number of deaths between March and December 2020, with about three-quarters of them attributable to COVID-19.
“Between March and December 2020, 351,400 (74%) excess deaths had COVID-19 as the underlying cause,” the researchers wrote. “Compared with White males and females, age-standardized COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 persons were at least 2 times higher among Black, Latino, and [American Indian/Alaska Native] males and females.”
