COVID-19 deaths decreased in July to the point where it did not impact the US death rate, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2020, the number of deaths increased by 30%, largely due to COVID-19. This resulted in 572,000 more Americans dying than expected, a term called “excess deaths.” But state and local health data show the Delta variant is responsible for another rise in COVID-19 deaths, particularly for unvaccinated people.
The CDC calculates excess deaths by using historical trends and seasonal patterns to set an expected number of deaths and then compare it to the actual number of deaths in a given time period.