Was it worth it? America has suffered 300,000 NON-Covid excess deaths since 2020 — as experts blame lockdowns and delayed healthcare for spike in drug overdoses and firearm fatalities

The US has suffered nearly 300,000 more deaths than usual in more than two years of the pandemic that cannot be attributed to Covid, with researchers blaming lockdowns and delays to healthcare.

Latest official data shows there were 1.26 million excess deaths between February 2020 and the end of 2022, of which around 295,000 did not have Covid as their main cause of death on their death certificates.

These are thought to be mostly made up of surges in deaths from cancer, heart disease, drug overdoses and firearms during the pandemic, however, a full analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is still likely weeks away.

Dr Coady Wing, a health policy expert from Indiana University, told DailyMail.com that these pandemic mandates kept people who needed care the most away from the doctor’s office – potentially costing thousands of lives.

The official death toll due to Covid-19 per the CDC is nearly 1.1 million, but that does not include associated deaths such as fatal overdoses during lockdowns

The United States (yellow) has suffered a larger increase in deaths than many other nations, including Sweden (blue), which famously opted against Covid lockdown measures. The country has suffered a 14 percent increase in deaths over the past three years when compared to the average number of expected deaths calculated from previous years. For comparison, Sweden recorded a five percent increase, while the UK (green) had a 10 percent jump

‘It’s a hard question to decide how many lives were saved by the shutdowns themselves,’ Dr Wing told DailyMail.com.

‘What we’re finding is that some of the things people did to avoid Covid risk, one of those things was to cut down of regular health care utilization, and that had health consequences.’

As a result, they either had their condition deteriorate or had diseases that could have been caught instead go unnoticed until they fell more ill.

He also noted that those most likely to cancel appointments were likely the sickest – further exacerbating their health issues. ‘Cutting back care for Covid sensitive groups was bad for their health,’ Dr Wing continued.

Data from nearly every country that instituted lockdowns in Spring 2020 shows a stark increase in deaths from other causes such as heart disease, cancer, and other common ailments.

Leading experts in the UK have suggested that up to 3,000 Britons are dying each week because of the disruptions to everyday life caused by the country’s strict lockdowns, for example. The nation logged 2,837 excess deaths during the week ending on January 13, with only five percent being attributable to Covid.

Some experts believe the recent increase in other causes of death around Britain would have been avoided without the strict lockdowns.

Dr Coady Wing (pictured), a health policy expert from Indiana University, said it is hard to determine how many lives the lockdown actually saved

According to the CDC, the United States has suffered 1,265,751 excess deaths between February 1, 2020 and December 31, 2022.

Unlike the UK and European countries, the US never entered a national lockdown; instead, the federal government left pandemic decisions to state, county and city-level officials.

While some states, such as California and New York, enacted strict mandates, others, such as Florida and Texas, avoided state-level orders altogether.

Even after many of these orders were dropped, many clinics shifted primarily to telehealth services rather than in-person doctor visits to keep people from healthcare and prevent the virus from spreading among the most vulnerable.

Both out of fear of the virus and to avoid over-burdening healthcare systems, many Americans also decided to put off visits to the doctor themselves. This combined to cause a surge of deaths during the pandemic caused by factors outside of the virus.

The CDC reports a five percent rise in cancer deaths in 2020, and a 2021 study found that cancer cases are now being detected later than usual in America – increasing the mortality risk of each case.

A study published last year by researchers at the Dartmouth Institute, in New Hampshire, found a 22 percent increase in Alzheimer’s death in the pandemic’s first year.

In a 2022 study, CDC researchers found that heart disease deaths increased by four percent in 2020,  representing ‘about five years of lost progress’ in the fight against America’s leading killer, agency researchers wrote.

Deaths from drug overdoses increased too, with the nation recording a record 108,000 overdose fatalities in 2021. This is a 15 percent increase from the previous all-time high count in 2020.

While disruptions to medical treatment could play a role in these deaths, the prevalence of highly potent – and deadly – fentanyl is likely partially responsible for the surge as well.

In October, Dr Engy Ziedan, an economist from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Dr Wing published research looking into how these lockdowns impacted death figures.

They found that anywhere from 25 to 33 percent of non-Covid deaths during the first two months of the pandemic were caused by missed appointments. This is because people missed surgeries, screenings and other necessary treatments.

READ MORE HERE