Preview

A number of articles in this month’s issue examine the pandemic’s impact on morbidity.

Christopher Ruhm examines the underlying causes behind the changes in US mortality during the first year of the pandemic by investigating the effects of both the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic recession.

Ruhm reports that the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with almost 700,000 excess deaths during its first year, close to a 25 percent rise over baseline, but he adds that the effects of the recession partially offset the pandemic effect for most groups and causes.

While there was opposition to lockdown efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19, Ruhm’s findings suggest that efforts to control transmission of the virus saved lives.

Ruhm also appeared on A Health Podyssey to discuss the research in greater detail. You can listen to that episode here.

In an accompanying Perspective article, Ellen Meara highlights an exception to Ruhm’s findings: the severe excess deaths due to drug overdose caused by economic recession.

Steven Woolf, in another Perspective, argues that death data does not capture the pandemic’s impact on morbidity or the continued health risks faced by vulnerable populations.

About Health Affairs

Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewed journal at the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found through healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs Today, and Health Affairs Sunday Update.

Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.

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