Life expectancy in the U.S. has dropped a full year because of the pandemic. The average U.S. lifespan has been increasing steadily in the U.S. over the past 40 years, but a new report by the CDC says life expectancy dropped from about 78-years in 2019 to about 77 in the first half of 2020. COVID-19 was a significant factor contributing to the decline. And while life-expectancy disparities between Black and white people had been shrinking in recent years, the CDC says new figures show the gap widening again.
