COVID drove largest spike in U.S. deaths in a century-- Census Bureau

Census Bureau: COVID drove largest spike in U.S. deaths in a century COVID-19 drove the largest death spike in a century, with 535,000 more deaths in 2020 than in 2019, according to newly released U.S. Census Bureau data.Why it matters: The new data shows how profoundly the pandemic has impacted the U.S. population, as Americans died or fled cities for the sanctuary of cheaper or less populous areas. Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.What we're watching: The Ozarks, Catskills and Poconos were among the destinations with se YahooNews

COVID-19 drove the largest death spike in a century, with 535,000 more deaths in 2020 than in 2019, according to newly released U.S. Census Bureau data.

Why it matters: The new data shows how profoundly the pandemic has impacted the U.S. population, as Americans died or fled cities for the sanctuary of cheaper or less populous areas.

The Ozarks, Catskills and Poconos were among the destinations with seasonal housing that saw significant growth in people moving in — or deciding to stay — between mid-2020 and mid-2021. Counties on the outskirts of metro areas including Columbus and Indianapolis also saw bumps.

• Meanwhile, pricey, mega-population areas of New York-Newark, San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland and Los Angeles-Long Beach experienced stark "net domestic migration decrease."

• This means fewer people moving in or more people moving out or a combination. Those three big city areas saw the largest decline in net domestic migration of any other similarly tied areas.

• Together, major metro areas — those with 1 million or more residents — lost population over the year. Brookings Institution's Bill Frey said this was the first time that has happened in a decade.

There was a 19% jump in the number of U.S. deaths between 2019 and 2020. Before then, the largest increase of the decade had been just 3.3% in 2015.

• The U.S. death toll remained high in 2021, according to the latest provisional data for the year, and the pandemic has disrupted what were once predictable, seasonal mortality trends.

The overall rise in mortality contributed to deaths outpacing births in more than 73% of U.S. counties between mid-2020 and mid-2021 — a record high and up from 56% the year before and 46% in 2019.

• Half of states saw more deaths than births, a phenomenon called "natural decrease." The trend was particularly clear in the Northeast and the South, according to the Census Bureau.

• Every county in Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island experienced a natural decrease. ...

• ALSO SEE: CDC coding error led to overcount of 72,000 Covid deaths