U study: Most 'excess deaths' during pandemic were COVID

Feb 16, 20240

Star Tribune count

Hospitals and their staffing levels were stretched during peak COVID-19 waves, but University of Minnesota research suggests that these pressures weren't the primary cause of excess deaths related to other natural causes during the pandemic.

An analysis of mortality statistics suggests the death count in the United States from COVID-19 is higher than the 1.1 million officially linked to the disease, according to new University of Minnesota research.

A U sociologist teamed up with public health researchers in Boston and Philadelphia to analyze excess deaths - mortality from natural causes that surpasses historical norms. They found a pattern that only makes sense if COVID played a key role. Excess deaths not ascribed to COVID almost always occurred at the beginning of pandemic waves, and then disappeared when those waves reached peak levels of illness, the researchers found.

"If these excess natural cause deaths had nothing to do with COVID, you would probably see them happening throughout this period, irrespective of when the COVID waves are," said Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, the U sociologist and demographer who coauthored the study.

https://www.startribune.com/u-study-most-excess-deaths-during-pandemic-were-covid/600343871/