JAMA. Stay informed with live updates on the current COVID-19 outbreak and visit our coronavirus hub for more advice on prevention and treatment.“Some people who never had the virus may have died because of disruptions caused by the pandemic,” says Dr.
Steven H. Woolf, the director emeritus of the Virginia university’s Center on Society and Health and first author of the study. “These include people with acute emergencies, chronic diseases like diabetes that were not properly cared for, or emotional crises that led to overdoses or suicides.”The researchers found a significant increase in recorded deaths from dementia and heart disease in March and April, for example.