But these declines, while unusual, were small – measured in small fractions of a year. The researchers knew there would be a decline last year, but the magnitude in the first six months left them staggering: the drop brought life expectancy to the lowest level since 2006. The last major decline was 2.9 years between 1942 and 1943 , after the Kingdom States entered World War II, said Arias.
The researchers say Thursday’s numbers are important because they are a numerical representation of the magnitude of the current coronavirus crisis. They may not represent a trend that will continue in the future, but they speak volumes about the scale of suffering that many American communities are experiencing today, such as Detroit’s Brightmoor neighborhood, where Rev. Semmeal Thomas, 60, pastor of City Covenant Church , has helped his congregation to deal with suffering.
He said that about 10 people he was close to died from Covid-19, including his 40-year-old niece, who had just married and was working on his Ph.D., and the wife of his close friend, who was in his 60s. Several middle-aged people in his church also died. Some had pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes and hypertension, but were controlling them.
“If Covid hadn’t come, Ruthie Harris would still be here, Jackie would still be here, Michael would still be here, Taisha would still be here,” he said. “It gave us, in the African American community, that tremendous feeling of mourning.”
Covid-19 hit blacks and Hispanic Americans more strongly than whites. People in those first two groups who died of the virus were also more likely to be younger, affecting life expectancy numbers more profoundly, Bassett said. She said the coronavirus mortality rate for black people between 35 and 44 years old, for example, was nine times higher than for white people in the same age group, according to data from February to July.
Overall, the mortality rate for black Americans with Covid-19 was almost twice that of white Americans in late January, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the death rate for Hispanics was 2.3 times higher than for white Americans.
The 2.7-year drop in African American life expectancy from January to June last year was the biggest decline, followed by a 1.9-year drop for Hispanic Americans and a 0.8-year drop for Americans. whites.