The United States recently surpassed the United Kingdom as the Western country that has been hit the hardest by COVID-19 deaths, according to BBC News.
- A new analysis — which BBC News received from the Health Foundation — measured COVID-19 deaths above expected levels from a normal year.
- “The analysis shows that in the second half of last year in particular, U.S. levels of excess deaths failed to drop back as much as other comparable industrialized nations,” according to BBC News.
Who is dying from COVID-19 now?
The New York Times reports that the bulk of COVID-19 deaths are people 50 years old and up. White Americans tend to be driving that surge.
- Experts said young people are making up a higher share of COVID-19 deaths compared to the peak of the pandemic.
- “While the number of deaths dropped in all age groups, about half of COVID-19 deaths are now of people aged 50 to 74, compared with only a third in December,” according to The New York Times.
Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious disease expert at the Medical University of South Carolina, told The New York Times there’s been a massive switch in who’s being hurt from COVID-19.
- “Previously, at the start of the pandemic, we were seeing people who were over the age of 60, who have numerous comorbidities,” she told The New York Times. “I’m not seeing that as much anymore.”
- She said most current hospitalizations are from “people who are younger, people who have not been vaccinated.”
COVID-19 deaths on the rise
Daily COVID-19 deaths appear to be on the rise in the United States as there are rising concerns about the Delta variant, which has originally found in India, according to MarketWatch.
The rise comes as President Joe Biden seeks to have about 70% of Americans vaccinated against COVID-19 by July 4.