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Marsh: U.S. life expectancy falls for first time since WWII

CHARLESTON — The life expectancy for Americans has decreased over the past two years, the first time since World War II, according to West Virginia’s COVID-19 coronavirus adviser.

Dr. Clay Marsh addressed media from across the state during Gov. Jim Justice’s virtual COVID-19 briefing on Wednesday.

Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control reported a drop in life expectancy for Americans that was attributed not just to COVID, but to an increase in drug-related deaths, Marsh said.

“Data just came out recently that shows us that the year 2021 was the highest mortality year in the history of the United States,” Marsh said. “We had about 3.5 million deaths from all causes throughout the United States, and about 500,000 excess deaths related to COVID.”

The United States lost about 2.5 years of life expectancy in the last two years, he said.

“That’s because of excess deaths not only from COVID, but we also know we hit 100,000 deaths from overdoses of drugs in 2021 as well,” Marsh said.

As a result, life-expectancy declined for the first time since World War II, Marsh said. It typically has risen each year as health knowledge has increased and medical technology progressed.

The CDC’s most recent life expectancy estimate in 2019 was for 78.5 years. Researchers now are projecting it has decreased 2.5 years since then, setting it at 76.

CDC data specifically relating to West Virginia was not available.

Justice on Wednesday announced an additional 22 COVID-related deaths in the state, bringing the number lost to the virus in West Virginia to 6,777.

“Twenty-two additional deaths is a crying shame, but at the same time the numbers are absolutely getting better,” Justice said.

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