COVID-19 Kills a Million Americans

“This pandemic left an irreplaceable hole in our country, and underserved communities, communities of color, and frontline workers have frequently carried the heaviest burden, underscoring the inequities that we must address as we move forward,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said.

COVID surges and variants drive up deaths 

In the early days of the pandemic, physician and health economist Christopher Murray, M.D., never thought the U.S. would pass the 1 million mark. But he says initial restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the virus were eased too soon, and a winter surge that hit before the vaccines were widely available, followed by the rise of more virulent variants, most notably delta, made matters worse. “And that really led to far more deaths than we had ever thought we would see,” says Murray, professor and chair of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington and director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

The omicron variant, which emerged in November 2021 and ripped through the country, causing a surge in infections and hospitalizations, only added to an already ugly year. (Deaths caused by COVID-19 in 2021 surpassed totals in 2020.) Between Dec. 22, 2021, and Feb. 22, 2022, an additional 132,000 Americans died from COVID-19.

While reaching 1 million deaths in just 27 months seems unfathomable, it would have happened much sooner without vaccines. A recent report from the Commonwealth Fund found that the shots have prevented more than 2 million coronavirus deaths. The latest data shows that unvaccinated people are about 10 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than their vaccinated peers.

Older adults remain at risk 

The omicron wave has since receded, but experts caution that the pandemic isn’t over, and older adults, especially, need to remain vigilant.

Subvariants of omicron are causing a bump in infections; hospitalizations are also starting to tick up, and hundreds of Americans are still dying each day, though experts don’t expect deaths will spike to the degree they did during the omicron and delta surges. Murray’s health metrics institute predicts the U.S. will see an additional 20,000 deaths from COVID-19 by September.

“People who are older and have lots of comorbidities are always going to be at higher risk for death” from COVID-19, Gasperino points out, referring to the presence of two or more underlying medical conditions. “So they have to take the more serious precautions and stricter precautions.” 

Staying up to date with the vaccines is key. Health officials encourage all adults to get a booster shot if they haven’t already. Adults 50 and older are currently eligible for a second booster shot.

Wearing a high-quality mask, such as an N95, in crowded indoor settings is another important protective step, since these so-called respirators are highly effective at blocking virus-sized particles when worn correctly — even if others around you aren’t wearing a mask.

“The evidence on masks is really very compelling,” Murray says. “You can protect yourself quite a bit by wearing a mask, and they should be in everybody’s tool kit if they are worried about risk in the future.”

Keeping yourself as healthy as possible is also important, Gasperino adds, since conditions like obesity, diabetes and heart disease increase an individual’s risks of severe illness.

As pandemic evolves, Americans shouldn’t ‘grow numb’ 

COVID-19 was the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. in both 2020 and 2021, but Murray says it’s unlikely the disease will rank so high in 2022. Vaccinations and prior infections have provided a large swath of the population with what Murray calls “immune memory,” meaning that if the body encounters the virus, it’s better able to quickly recognize it and fight it off.

About 66 percent of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated, though less than half of the eligible population has received a booster. And a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that close to 60 percent of Americans likely had COVID-19 at some point. 

This level of defense, combined with highly effective and more accessible treatments, “means we should not see the degree of death we did in the first two years of the pandemic,” Murray says, though there’s always the risk that another, more dangerous variant could emerge and threaten progress.

“I think we’re at a better place now to treat a lot of the complications related to COVID. I think we have a lot more understanding of the disease process and the different groups that are at higher risk for bad outcomes,” Gasperino adds.

Still, as the pandemic persists, Biden called on Americans to “not grow numb to such sorrow.”

“We must remain vigilant against this pandemic and do everything we can to save as many lives as possible," he said. 

Rachel Nania writes about health care and health policy for AARP. Previously she was a reporter and editor for WTOP Radio in Washington, D.C. A recipient of a Gracie Award and a regional Edward R. Murrow Award, she also participated in a dementia fellowship with the National Press Foundation.​​​​