Excess deaths in the US are rising at a shocking rate

The current COVID-19 situation in the U.S. is both good and bad. The good news is that COVID-19 deaths are at the lowest levels of the three-year pandemic. Given current trends, projections indicate roughly 100,000 COVID-19 deaths for 2023 — less than half of any of the three previous years. The bad news is that the number of overall excess U.S. deaths — the difference between expected numbers of deaths from all causes and the actual number of deaths observed — is rising at a shocking rate. COVID-19 is a factor, but the main causes of excess deaths are more social than medical, and the worst a...