First vs second wave Neighbourhoods with lower socioeconomic status had 0.7-2.8% higher excess mortality possibly linked to the pandemic for each standard deviation increase in measures of community disadvantage, the study found.
However, the paper also found this excess mortality was much more due to the second wave. Mortality during the first lockdown period was lower than normal, driven by a substantial decline in deaths among men in their 20s.
This excess mortality increased a little in the first wave, but reached its highest in the second wave. Poorer neighbourhoods did not consistently report higher excess mortality than richer neighbourhoods in the first wave, indicating lesser impact in 2020.