The United States has seen nearly 300,000 excess deaths so far since late January – and the groups with the biggest jumps in excess deaths, percentage-wise, have been adults ages 25 to 44 and Hispanic people, according to a report published Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The report included mortality data from Jan. 26 through Oct. 3, to help researchers measure how many more people died this year during the coronavirus pandemic than otherwise would have been expected.
"An estimated 299,028 more persons than expected have died since January 26, 2020; approximately two thirds of these deaths were attributed to COVID-19," CDC researchers wrote in the report.
"Although more excess deaths have occurred among older age groups, relative to past years, adults aged 25-44 years have experienced the largest average percentage increase in the number of deaths from all causes from late January through October 3," the researchers wrote. "Among racial and ethnic groups, the smallest average percentage increase in numbers of deaths compared with previous years occurred among White persons (11.9%) and the largest for Hispanic persons (53.6%)."
The report has some limitations, including that mortality data can lag, and estimates of how many deaths would otherwise be expected are based on models.