The deaths caused by the COVID-19 pandemic aren't just caused by the virus itself, according to the findings of a group of researchers at UCSF.
The U.S. death toll from the virus is more than 525,000, and Ellicott Matthay, a post-doctoral scholar at UCSF and lead author of the study, said it's actually larger than that if you take into account how many people may have died as a result of pandemic-related unemployment.
"Our best estimate is that we should expect about 30,000 excess deaths from COVID-19-related unemployment in the working age population between April 2020 and March 2021," she told KCBS Radio.
That's because, she said, of the indirect health consequences of unemployment.
"It can lead to drug overdoses, suicides and poor access to healthcare," Matthay said.
Unfortunately, those most at risk of getting coronavirus are also most at risk for those problems as well, including, she said, Black Americans and those in lower-income brackets.
"Individuals with a high school education or less made up 37 percent of the working age population but 72 percent of unemployment-related deaths," Matthay noted.
She said this is a call for strengthening unemployment benefits and programs that get people back to work quickly.
