PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — There’s greater evidence illustrating the devastating impact of COVID-19 in the U.S.
The age-adjusted death rate was dropping steadily in the U.S. for 90 years — until 2020. This measurement is made every decade, and it just so happened that 2020 was time for the latest update.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the age-adjusted death rate increased by 15.9% between 2019 and 2020.
The last time we saw an increase like this was before the invention of antibiotics and the development of vaccines. Antibiotics are designed to fight bacterial infections but are not helpful in the case of viral infections.
COVID-19 is a virus. Vaccine development, testing and release had minimal impact in 2020. So, conditions were similar in many ways to what it was like decades ago when virtually any infection could often lead to death.
KYW Newsradio’s Medical Reports are sponsored by Independence Blue Cross.