Covid death toll in US likely 16% higher than official tally, study says | The Guardian
Speaking in The Guardian about his recent JAMA publication, CEID faculty Dr. Andrew Stokes noted that “there was marked regional variation,” in where COVID-attributable deaths occurred. The hardest-hit were non-metropolitan counties, especially in the west and the south – areas that don’t have as many resources for investigating deaths, and which have had lower levels […]
Researchers find many ‘natural’ and COVID-19 deaths likely related | Penn Today
A study collaborating between researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Boston University, including CEID’s Dr. Andrew Stokes, provides compelling data suggesting that excess mortality rates from chronic illnesses and other natural causes were driven by COVID-19 infections. Read more about their findings here.
New analysis reveals many excess deaths attributed to natural causes are actually uncounted COVID-19 deaths | Medical Xpress
A recent publication co-authored by CEID faculty, Dr. Andrew Stokes quantifies the number of excess deaths attributed to COVID-19. The findings showed that many COVID-19 deaths went uncounted during the pandemic, even well beyond the initial phase of the pandemic, according to Dr. Stokes. This study allows researchers to better understand the true toll of […]
‘Excess deaths’ tied to COVID have plummeted in America — what does that mean? | Live Science
This article explains what excess deaths are and why this is a useful measure for quantifying the increase in deaths as a result of COVID-19. In it, CEID faculty Dr. Andrew Stokes notes that while overall excess deaths due to COVID have decreased, there remain pockets particularly in rural America where unvaccinated individuals remain vulnerable […]
Two Kennedys on covid | Washington Post
Citing his research on the role vaccine uptake played in COVID prevention throughout American communities, CEID faculty Andrew Stokes told The Washington Post that in places where vaccine uptake increased, excess mortality went down in the second year of the pandemic. This refutes claims of overall excess deaths increasing in 2021 and 2022. “It is impossible to […]
Rural Mortality Rose during Year Two of Pandemic, despite Vaccines, New Study Finds | The Brink
Despite the availability of vaccines in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, excess deaths due to the virus actually increased in rural parts of the United States. As CEID faculty Dr. Andrew Stokes explains in an interview with BU’s The Brink, his recent study identified challenges specific to rural areas: where vaccines were harder […]
COVID-19 deaths in the US continue to be undercounted, research shows, despite claims of ‘overcounts’ | The Conversation
CEID Faculty Dr. Andrew Stokes and his research team have determined that, “the undercounting of COVID-19 deaths is significantly more common in Black, Hispanic and Native American communities as well as low-income areas. Claims that COVID-19 deaths have been overcounted undermine efforts to reconcile the undercounts in these communities and to ensure resources are being […]
The uncounted: People of color are dying at much higher rates than what COVID data suggests | USA Today
Per CEID Faculty Dr. Andrew Stokes, “Our death investigation system structurally disadvantages communities of color by obscuring the causes of death in those communities, which hinders our policy response.” See more here.
How data can power public health investigations — through collaboration | Muckrock
CEID Faculty Dr. Andrew Stokes and his team find “counties across the country whose trend in deaths during the pandemic raised concerns that a significant amount of COVID deaths were being missed in official death tolls.” See more here.
During the Omicron Wave, Death Rates Soared for Older People | The New York Times
CEID Faculty Dr. Andrew Stokes weighs in on COVID mortality data during the Omicron wave: “…’This is not simply a pandemic of the unvaccinated,’ said Andrew Stokes, an assistant professor in global health at Boston University who studies age patterns of Covid deaths. ‘There’s still exceptionally high risk among older adults, even those with primary […]