Memorials hang from the front gate of the cemetery during an event and procession to remember the people who died in New York City from the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Spencer Platt is a photographer.
The death rate in the U.S. went up in 2020 compared to the previous year, causing the biggest drop in life expectancy seen in decades.
The US was lagging behind other countries in health outcomes long before the Pandemic hit.
Fast facts.
The full report can be found here.
The expert analysis.
Bob Anderson, chief of the CDC's mortality statistics branch, says that many deaths are indirectly related to COVID-19.
He notes that the virus can cause problems in the body and that it could be behind some deaths. He says drug overdose deaths had begun to increase at the end of the year, with the increase getting worse the following year. Even if it wasn't the sole driver of the climb, the Pandemic likely had an impact.
American males experienced the biggest drop in life expectancy last year, according to a demographer at the University of Oxford.
He said that it was not surprising that life expectancy in the U.S. dropped due to the Pandemic. The magnitude of the loss is very surprising.
The US has historically had worse health outcomes than other rich countries because of the lack of access to care, according to the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University.
The factors have been worsened by the Pandemic and have a disproportionate impact on underprivileged communities.
While this is a long-term problem to fix, the Pandemic is still raging. He says that we can bring down deaths by following public health guidelines.
This story was originally published in the Morning Edition live blog.
