U.S. social issues to cause more deaths from COVID-19: Health Affairs

NEW YORK, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Long existing social problems in the United States may lead to more deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic, American journal Health Affairs has reported.

Americans have for decades experienced poorer health outcomes than people in peer countries "because of deficiencies in the health care system, adverse socioeconomic conditions, unhealthy physical and social environments, systemic racism, and policies that jeopardize health," said the report in the November issue of the journal.

Due to problems like delays in accessing care and increasing socioeconomic precarity, which have been exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, "more deaths will occur, and a larger number of Americans will experience disease complications," it said.