US life expectancy fell by 2 yrs in 2020 amid pandemic

People have their temperature checked before attending The Metropolitan Museum of Art on their first day open since closing due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, Aug 27, 2020. (PHOTO / CHINADAILY.COM.CN)

ATHENS / NEW YORK / MEXICO CITY / MILAN / HARARE – Life expectancy in the United States fell by nearly two years in 2020 to about 77 years amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the sharpest drop compared to 21 other high-income countries, according to a global study.

Americans on average are now expected to live for 76.99 years from 78.86 years in 2019, according to the study, which looked at national death and population counts in 2019 and 2020 to calculate the mortality rate ratio.

Americans on average are now expected to live for 76.99 years from 78.86 years in 2019, according to the study, which looked at national death and population counts in 2019 and 2020 to calculate the mortality rate ratio

The decline of 1.87 years in life expectancy for 2020 was far higher than the mean reduction of 0.58 years in 21 peer countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Denmark and South Korea. No country experienced a decrease as steep as that of the United States, according to the study.

US COVID-19 mortality and excess deaths were among the highest in the world and the virus was the third leading cause of death in the United States in 2020, after heart disease and cancer.

Authors of the study said the United States mismanaged the federal, state and local responses to the COVID-19 pandemic at the start, contributing to higher death rates than those in other countries. The pandemic response exacerbated the life expectancy gap between the US and its peers.

"The fact the US lost so many more lives than other high-income countries speaks not only to how we managed the pandemic but also to more deeply rooted problems that predated the pandemic," said Steven H. Woolf, one of the study authors and faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University.

"US life expectancy has been falling behind other countries since the 1980s, and the gap has widened over time, especially in the last decade," he said.

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Woolf said Americans die at higher rates because of heart disease, diabetes and dozens of other conditions. The lack of universal health care, income and educational inequality, and less healthy physical and social environments also contributed.

The study findings mirrored earlier estimates from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that showed 2020 life expectancy was 77 years for the total US population, a decrease of 1.8 years from 78.8 years in 2019, the biggest decline since World War II.

With the pandemic in its third year, close to a million Americans have died due to COVID-19, according to the CDC.

In this file photo taken on Dec 16, 2021, a man receives a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic set up at Chester Cathedral as the UK steps up the country's booster drive to fight a "tidal wave" of Omicron. (PAUL ELLIS / AFP)

Britain

Britain approved on Thursday French firm Valneva's  COVID-19 vaccine, bringing in a sixth coronavirus shot to the country.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, UK's independent medicines regulator, said the watchdog was the first in the world to approve Valneva's vaccine.

It added that the vaccine was also the first, whole-virus inactivated COVID-19 shot to get a regulatory nod in the country.

Greece's President Katerina Sakellaropoulou speaks during a press conference at Belem Palace in Lisbon on March 28, 2022. (CARLOS COSTA / AFP)

Greece

Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou has tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, according to an e-mailed press statement from her office.

The Greek head of state has mild symptoms, and she will stay in quarantine at home, it added.

Earlier this spring, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had contracted the virus and recovered.

Both have been vaccinated and received booster shots.

Italy

Italy reported 62,037 COVID-19 related cases on Wednesday, against 83,643 the day before, the health ministry said, while the number of deaths fell to 155 from 169.

Italy has registered 161,187 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eighth highest in the world. The country has reported 15.5 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 10,166 on Wednesday, down from 10,207 a day earlier.

There were 42 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 53 on Tuesday. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 449 from a previous 463.

Some 419,995 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 563,018, the health ministry said.

A nurse prepares a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination centre, in Guadalajara, Jalisco state, Mexico on April 6, 2022. (ULISES RUIZ / AFP)

Mexico

Mexico will vaccinate more children against COVID-19, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday, urging global health authorities to deliver the doses it had ordered for the purpose.

Mexico last year began inoculating some at-risk children, and children with disabilities, but has so far held back from rolling out a broader vaccination program for minors.

Lopez Obrador said he was awaiting doses under the COVAX program, run by the World Health Organization and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.

Tunisia

Tunisia has begun offering the second COVID-19 booster shot for people over the age of 65, Tunisian Health Minister Ali Mrabet announced Wednesday on state television Wataniya1.

"We are reassured that our country has been able to overcome the latest health crisis thanks to the efforts of the competent authorities but above all to public awareness," Mrabet said.

 "A total of 6,353,688 Tunisians are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and over 1.18 million have received their third dose," the minister added.

Tunisian Health Ministry on Tuesday reported 1,267 new COVID-19 cases, raising the tally in the North African country to 1,038,668.

Pfizer

Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said on Wednesday that the company could possibly develop a new vaccine that protects against the Omicron variant as well as older forms of COVID-19 by autumn.

"It's easy to do something only against Omicron. What is scientifically and technically more challenging … is to be effective against everything known so far, so you don't have two different vaccines for different variants," Bourla said, speaking at a press conference held by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations.

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has begun the process of activating QR codes on COVID-19 vaccination certificates, an official said Wednesday.

Until now, the country has been issuing certificates with pre-printed QR codes that are blank.

The Ministry of Health and Child Care "has now commended an exercise to activate these QR codes which are now a requirement for travel to some countries," Jasper Chimedza, permanent secretary of the ministry, said in a statement.

With more than 5 million people having received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose so far, the government will prioritize individuals traveling out of the country, with plans being made to open the process to the greater public, he said.

The activation process has been decentralized across the country for the convenience of the public, he added.

Zimbabwe is currently rolling out a COVID-19 vaccination blitz which began last month and will last till May, targeting mainly children aged 12 years and above, with an aim to have 70 percent of the total population vaccinated by the end of July.

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