Deaths due to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia were 24% higher than average in 2020 — and 50% higher than in 2019, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More people died of heart disease and cancer as well, though at rates only slightly higher than normal.
Overall, Vermont’s mortality rate was at least 2% — or about 444 deaths — higher than average in the past 12 months, according to the CDC. By some estimates, the total increase over normal rates could be as high as 11%.
The mortality data highlights the insidious and widespread effect of Covid, beyond actual infections.
Death data can “provide a broader picture of what the impact of Covid-19 has been,” said Lauren Rossen, a statistician with the National Center for Health Statistics who helped aggregate and analyze the national data. There were the obvious causes: those who died of Covid, as well as the infections that went undetected.
But it also points to the deaths that can be indirectly attributed to Covid: “There were the people who are afraid to go to the hospital or situations on the ground that people can’t get emergency care because the hospitals were filled to capacity,” Rossen said.
Between March and December, the U.S. reported more than 500,000 more deaths than a normal year, according to The New York Times. Between 66% and 80% of that rise was due to Covid infection, according to Rossen.
The Times also reported that the U.S. life expectancy dropped a full year during 2020.
Vermont had comparatively low levels of Covid infection. Since the start of the pandemic, 193 state residents have died of the virus.
Still, more people died than normal last year. That may be due partly to undetected Covid cases or worsened care, Rossen said.
The CDC tracks and tallies major causes of death year over year. The data does not include all causes of death — only those that are statistically significant. The CDC compared the 2020 numbers to the average number of deaths between 2015 and 2019, she said.
Vermont’s small population and aging demographics makes it difficult to measure whether, and how much, the 2020 deaths exceeded the norm, said Jessie Hammond, public health statistics chief for the Department of Health.
Even though the 2020 numbers are higher than previous years, it “isn’t outside the realm of what might have been expected,” Hammond wrote in an email to VTDigger. The department is reviewing the national data and will be releasing updated figures of its own in the coming weeks, Hammond said.
Across the country, Alzheimer’s deaths have risen. Those with memory loss are at higher risk of contracting Covid; they’re more likely to live in elder care homes or congregate living facilities. They’re more likely to wander or to take off their masks.
People with Alzheimer’s are also more likely to fall seriously ill with Covid, or to die from the virus. They’re more likely to suffer from loneliness, which leads to worsened health.
“It makes sense,” said Cameron Segal, deputy director of the Living Well Group, which operates three elder care homes, of the increase. Those with Alzheimer’s and dementia are already vulnerable. For that population, “your health deteriorates so quickly.”
The pandemic has prevented people with Alzheimer’s from seeing their family members and from getting out in the community — two factors that increase health and wellbeing, said Jim Holway, board chair at Community of Vermont Elders and at the Living Well Group.
Their loss of memory can lead to an increased sense of despair, he added: “We can tell them they don’t see their family because of the safety rules. Their family can tell them that. Ten minutes from now, they can say, ‘I feel like my family has abandoned me and I have no idea why.’”
Because many of the deaths are directly attributable to Covid, death rates will likely return to normal as Covid cases and deaths drop, said Rossen. But the CDC will continue monitoring and tracking the data for the next several years, she said.
After all, in this day and age, “it’s hard to predict the future,” she said.
