The COVID-19 death toll sent U.S. life expectancy plunging in 2020
Overall U.S. life expectancy declined by a year, the biggest drop since the 1940s
![A man wearing a mask crouches down on a lawn covered with many small American flags on it](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/021721_ac_life-expectancy_feat.jpg?fit=1030%2C580&ssl=1)
In September, 20,000 American flags were installed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as a memorial to the 200,000 lives lost in the United States from the pandemic by that time.
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