Why it matters: More evidence that the pandemic is waning
The death rate from Covid fell by almost half last year as the age-adjusted rate fell from 115.6 per 100,000 persons in 2021 to 61.3 deaths per 100,000 persons. The data is evidence that the toll from the pandemic decreased significantly as 2022 progressed.
But the report’s authors noted that Covid is still killing Americans in droves even today.
“The mortality rate has come down a lot, but we also want to emphasize that we are not out of the woods here,” said Dr. Robert Anderson, chief of the National Center for Health Statistics division of mortality statistics. “A lot of people have still died, and we will still see deaths in 2023.”
Nearly 35,000 people have died from Covid so far this year, he added. The number of total deaths in the United States is still higher than before the pandemic, at 2.9 million, suggesting that Covid has had a broader effect on death rates overall. The outbreak led some people to delay healthcare, for example, and aggravate other illnesses they may have had.
“We would expect some increase in deaths as the population ages, but this is much more than we would have expected without the pandemic,” said Dr. Anderson.
Background: Men and older adults are at risk
Men, adults 85 or older, and Native Americans or Alaskan Native people were far more likely than other Americans to have died from Covid last year. In contrast, Asian Americans and children ages 5 to 14 had the lowest mortality rates.
Black Americans and Native Americans or Alaskan Native people had the highest age-adjusted death rates from all causes. Mortality rates were lowest for multiracial and Asian individuals.
Compared to the early days of the pandemic, Covid was less likely to be less deadly last year. It accounted for 76 percent of cases where it appeared on death certificates, compared to 90 percent during the first two years of the pandemic.
What’s Next: A new normal
The number of deaths from Covid is expected to continue falling this year but could still exceed 100,000, said Dr. Anderson: “It looks like the number will continue to fall, but it’s still not trivial.”
