U.S. deaths increased by 20% between March 1 and July 1, with COVID-19 the cause of only 67% of those additional casualties, according to research published Monday by the Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA.
The deaths were particularly high in 10 states, including New Jersey, New York, Mississippi, Arizona, and Michigan.
Overall, 225,530 more people died during the 4-month period, with two-thirds, or 150,541 attributed to COVID-19.
Just over 1.3 million people died from all causes during that time frame.
"Contrary to skeptics who claim that COVID-19 deaths are fake or that the numbers are much smaller than we hear on the news, our research and many other studies on the same subject show quite the opposite," Dr. Steven Woolf, a professor at the VCU School of Medicine, wrote in a news release Monday.
"Some people who never had the virus may have died because of disruptions caused by the pandemic," he added. "These include people with acute emergencies, chronic diseases like diabetes that were not properly care for, or emotional crises that led to overdoses or suicides."
Researchers at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and the Yale School of Public Health analyzed data from the National Center for Health Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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