CDC reports 285,000 more deaths than a 'normal' year due to COVID-19 pandemic

A new report released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the coronavirus pandemic has left about 285,000 more people dead in the United States than would be expected in a typical non-pandemic year. Of the approximate 285,000 deaths, two-thirds were attributed to the virus.

The CDC study found that the coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, has taken a disproportionate toll on Latinos and Blacks. The CDC also found that COVID-19 deaths hit 25- to 44-year-olds extremely hard with an "excess death" rate up by 26.5 percent in relation to previous years. This was the largest death jump among any age group in the study.

“The number of people dying from this pandemic is higher than we think,” Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University, told The Washington Post. “This study shows it. Others have as well.”

The data covered the period Feb. 1 to Sept. 16. Woolf said the COVID-19 deaths are likely to hit 400,000 by the end of the year. The numbers were assembled by the National Center for Health Statistics, a unit of the CDC.