Globally, official reports through the end of 2021 show that 6 million people have died directly because of Covid-19. But researchers estimate in a new study that from the start of 2020 through the end of 2021, there have been at least 18 million more deaths than researchers would typically expect over the course of two years.
Some of this excess mortality may have been missed in official counts due to lack of diagnostic or reporting resources. But some may be attributed to other indirect effects of the pandemic, such as lack of access to health care, behavior changes during lockdowns or economic turmoil. There was not enough data to distinguish the cause of death.
Excess mortality is “a much more accurate measurement of the true impact of the pandemic” precisely because of the known issues in underreporting of direct Covid-19 deaths and because of the deadly indirect effects of the…
