NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Life expectancy in New York City dropped 4.6 years, bringing the average lifespan to 78, between 2019 and 2020 as COVID-19 tore through the city, according to statistics released by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene on Friday.
The pandemic hit Black and Latino New Yorkers even harder, with drops in life expectancy of 5.5 years and six years respectively. Those drops brought life expectancy to 73 for Black people and 77.3 for Latino people.
White New Yorkers saw a drop of three years for a pandemic life expectancy of 80.1.
The mortality rate in New York City for 2020 reached over 241 deaths per 100,000, beating out the mortality rate during the 1918 influenza pandemic of almost 229 deaths per 100,000.
The Health Department attributed the change to the COVID-19 pandemic that hit in March 2020, though it also pointed to a rise in fatal overdoses as partially responsible for the increase.
Overdose deaths rose 42.2% between 2019 and 2020.
“The pain and trauma experienced by our city is still very real to so many of us,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan. “This report is an important record of what we’ve been through and all that we lost. New Yorkers’ lifespans are falling, on top of years of relative flattening before COVID, and that cannot continue. It is the great challenge of our time, our city, and our Department to lay out an agenda for the next era of public health, to reverse these trends, and set us out on a new path where all New Yorkers can lead healthier, longer lives.”
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