Life expectancy for U.S. men shrank by more than two years because of COVID-19, researchers say
CBSN
COVID-19 caused the biggest jump in international mortality rates since World War II, with U.S. men seeing their life expectancy drop by 2.2 years, according to new study from Oxford University. That was the biggest decline among males in 29 countries examined by researchers at the British university.
Life expectancy fell in 27 countries in 2020 as the coronavirus spread, with 11 nations seeing a drop of more than one year for men and eight countries experiencing the same for women, Oxford found. American men had the biggest decline, followed by Lithuanian men, with a decline of 1.7 years.
Although the study didn't analyze life expectancy by race and income, the researchers noted that U.S. men may have experienced a steeper drop in their expected lifespan due to higher rates of certain medical conditions than men in Europe, as well as uneven access to health care and structural issues such as racism. Experts have long linked such disadvantages to rising inequality in the U.S.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.