USA: a sharp rise in "non-COVID" deaths in the 18-49 age group

Health departments in several states confirmed to The Epoch Times
(https://bit.ly/3tBeYSq) that they are looking into a steep surge in
the mortality rate for people aged 18 to 49 in 2021—a majority of
which are not linked to COVID-19.
Deaths among people aged 18 to 49 increased more than 40 percent
in the 12 months ending October 2021 compared to the same period
in 2018–2019, before the pandemic, according to an analysis by The
Epoch Times of death certificate data from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) (https://bit.ly/3rq85Rr).
The agency doesn’t yet have full 2021 figures, as death certificate
data has a lag of up to eight weeks or more.
The surge differed greatly from state to state, with the most
dramatic increase in young-to-middle age deaths in the South,
Midwest, and the West Coast, while the northeastern states generally
saw much milder spikes. Public health authorities in several states
with some of the largest increases are examining the issue.
Texas saw the 18 to 49 age mortality jump 61 percent, the
second-highest increase in the country. Of that, less than 58
percent was attributed to COVID-19.
“Our Center of Health Statistics is looking at the data,” said Chris
Van Deusen, the head of Media Relations at the Texas Department
of State Health Services, via email. “We’ll get back with you.”
Florida, which saw an increase of 51 percent, 48 percent of that
attributed to COVID-19, is also probing the matter.
“I am looking into it to see if there is some sort of correlation
/causation,” said Jeremy Redfern, spokesman for the Florida
Department of Health via email.
Nevada saw the highest increase, 65 percent, of which just 36
percent was attributed to COVID-19.
Shannon Litz, a public information officer at the Nevada Department
of Health and Human Services, said via email she passed on questions
regarding the mortality spike to the agency’s Office of Analytics
“for review.”
The District of Columbia experienced an increase of 72 percent, none
of it attributed to COVID-19.
Robert Mayfield, spokesman for D.C.’s health authority, referred The
Epoch Times to the district’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner
(OCME), which suggested it lacked the expertise to analyze the
phenomenon.
“OCME does not currently have an epidemiologist (the position is
being advertised) so it has no present ability to analyze the data,”
said the office’s spokesman Rodney Adams via email.
Arizona recorded a 57 percent increase, 37 percent of which was
attributed to COVID-19.
Arizona’s Department of Health Services couldn’t respond to
questions regarding the issue because its data is “not yet
finalized,” said Tom Herrmann, the agency’s public information
officer, via email.
Other states with some of the highest increases were Tennessee
(57 percent up, 33 percent attributed to COVID-19), California
(55 percent up, 42 percent attributed to COVID-19), New Mexico
(52 percent up, 33 percent attributed to COVID-19), and Louisiana
(51 percent up, 32 percent attributed to COVID-19). None of their
health authorities responded to requests for comment.
The mortality surge seemed to be significantly milder in the
northeast. New Hampshire saw no increase, Massachusetts had only
a 13 percent spike (24 percent of it attributed to COVID-19), and
New York, one of the worst-hit by the pandemic in the region, was
up 29 percent (30 percent of it attributed to COVID-19).
CDC data on the causes of those excess deaths aren’t yet available
for 2021, aside from those involving COVID-19, pneumonia, and
influenza. There were close to 6,000 excess pneumonia deaths that
didn’t involve COVID-19 in the 18 to 49 age group in the 12 months
ending October 2021. Influenza was only involved in 50 deaths in
this age group, down from 550 in the same period pre-pandemic. The
flu death count didn’t exclude those that also involved COVID-19
or pneumonia, the CDC noted.
A part of the surge could be likely blamed on drug overdoses, which
increased to more than 101,000 in the 12 months ending June 2021
from about 72,000 in 2019, the CDC estimated
(https://bit.ly/3IwK1Dt). About two-thirds of those deaths involved
synthetic opioids such as fentanyl that are often smuggled to the
United States from China via Mexico.
For those aged 50 to 84, mortality increased more than 27 percent,
representing more than 470,000 excess deaths. Some 77 percent
of the deaths had COVID-19 marked on the death certificate as the
cause or a contributing factor.
For those 85 or older, mortality increased about 12 percent with
more than 100,000 excess deaths. There were more than 130,000
COVID-related deaths in this group, indicating these seniors were
less likely to die of a non-COVID-related cause from November
2020 to October 2021 than during the same period of 2018–2019.
Comparing 2020 to 2019, mortality increased some 24 percent for
those aged 18 to 49, with less than a third of those excess deaths
involving COVID-19. For those aged 50 to 84, mortality increased
less than 20 percent, with over 70 percent of that involving
COVID-19. For those even older, mortality jumped about 16 percent,
with nearly 90 percent of it involving COVID-19.
For those under 18, mortality decreased about 0.4 percent in 2020
compared to 2019. In the 12 months ending October 2021, it fell some
3.3 percent compared to the same period in 2018–2019.