Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Four years ago, Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.

We look back at this milestone through the eyes of a man who was one of the first patients in Southern California to get what was then called "Novel Coronavirus".

Gregg Garfield spent 64 days at Providence St. Joseph's Medical Center in Burbank, most of those days, fighting for his life. He was Los Angeles County's first COVID patient and was not expected to survive.

When emergency room physician Dr. Stephen Kishineff met Garfield four years ago, it was under far different circumstances.

"On that particular morning I couldn't breathe," said Garfield.

Kishineff immediately called pulmonary critical care specialist Dr. Daniel Dea.

"He said 'Dan we got our first COVID patient.' My heart skipped a beat and I kind of took a big gulp," Dea said.

"I spent 64 days here. The first 31 days, I was asleep," he said.

He suffered complete organ failure and was given a 1% chance of survival. In February 2020, Garfield got COVID-19 during a European ski trip with friends and family. After he was admitted, Southern California started to shut down. Garfield's world was changing fast and he had no idea what was happening.

"It was definitely a Rumpelstiltskin moment. So I woke up and I was educated really quickly on what was going on around me," he said.

"To paraphrase Oppenheimer, the COVID pandemic changed the world," said Dea.

"The first two years were pure hell. The end of 2020, I'm shocked I even got through it. We were just putting out fires. The hospital was full of nothing but very sick, critical COVID patients. By 2021, it started to lighten up. Maybe we could kind of see the end of it by 2021. By 2022 to 2023, life slowly started to come back to normal," Dea said.

When Garfield left the hospital, it was a high point for the staff. He hopes everyone remembers what happened four years ago and says he remains eternally grateful.

"I'm here and in the most healthy way possible. I'm 100% internally, I'm the luckiest person alive," Garfield said.

Today, Garfield speaks to groups hoping that his story will inspire them. He says that he knows so many people that were devastated by COVID, but says lessons about resilience can be used by all.

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4 years after WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, SoCal's 'patient zero' remembers the milestone - KABC-TV

When I first heard about the coronavirus in early 2020, I braced myself, thinking about its unchecked spread and our vulnerability to disease behind bars. Four years later, as I remain incarcerated, I watch as the pandemic continues to damage our incarcerated community.

Despite the false and damaging narrative from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and many news outlets that COVID is over, it continues to infect life in corrections. Throughout the pandemic and my multiple infections, Ive watched my Georgia state prison utterly transform. Every aspect of institutional life has been altered, making an already difficult situation even worse. The existing staff shortage has intensified. The COVID-era social distancing from loved ones has persisted. Enrichment programs have been completely removed. Our community has become unwell as the new normal evolved into an epidemic of drugs and violence. The trauma of the virus, the unraveling system, and the absence of support have culminated into a highly unhealthy environment.

When the pandemic hit, there was no way for us incarcerated people to protect ourselves. We could not socially distance, and we lacked personal protective equipment (PPE) and sanitation supplies. Though we remained isolated from society, correctional staff came and went, exposing us. We had our sights set on a vaccine that still had to be created, approved, and distributed, supposedly to the most vulnerable. But it turned out we were even beneath thata population ultimately forgotten. The virus would enter the prison and pass through us, helplessly exposed and neglected.

During this time, my attachment to permanence became obsessive. I realized that, if I were to die, my legacy would consist of an old sweatshirt and a few pairs of socks. I experienced an intense urge to write, making a record of my existence before it was too late. Yet, in every attempt, my hand would freeze above the page. I struggled to write anything of significance during what could have been my final hours.

Late one night, I turned from the blank page to the cell wall in a panic. For the first time in my 16 years in prison, I wrote on the wall, scribbling out the words: I was here.

Over the last 20 years, the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) has experienced a steady decline in security and non-security staff. Before the pandemic, there were at least enough officers to staff the essential posts. Dorm officers are supposed to make rounds every 30 minutes and be accessible several times during a shift in case of an emergency. Yet, as COVID began to spread in the U.S. and seep into the institution, many of these state workers opted to take time off or look for alternative employment that would not confine them to crowded spaces for 12 hours at a time. The officers that did show up would often arrive for their shifts, lock the doors, and leave.

Their absence was especially detrimental to the health and safety of the incarcerated population during the height of the pandemic. As we began exhibiting symptoms, sometimes acute and severe, there was no way to seek medical attention. When there is a medical emergency, security staff must notify on-call medical personnel. Even before the pandemic, most officers were reluctant to do so; now, it wasnt even a possibility. Non-COVID-related emergencies went unattended, including violent altercations, electrical fires, and mental health crises. On several occasions, these instances were almost fatal and only resolved with great effort and intervention on the residents part, such as busting the window to get an officers attention or making collect calls to have family members call 911 on someones behalf.

Today, the prison still remains understaffed. Often, one or two officers will be required to supervise up to 600 people. Its a staggering ratio that makes it impossible for the officers to effectively perform their duties, leaving the needs of the population unmet. Given the futility of managing such numbers, correctional staff have resigned themselves to professional indifference while residents have been forced into a perpetual survival mode. The resulting stress and negligence have fostered a hostile environment. In a place of scarcity, with the absence of a reward and punishment system that undergirds corrections, anarchy has ensued. Gangs have established order and control over resources. A community that was once invested in collective well-being and equity, at least to some degree, has fractured into violent groups vying for control over the toilet paper, bread, and hot water.

Non-security staff, whose numbers were also reduced during the pandemic, remain critically impaired. This is especially evident in the mental health, counseling, and recreation departments. During COVID-19, mental health and general population counseling were suspended. In a time when mental health concerns were increased by stress and uncertainty, there was no professional guidance available. Coping with regular prison life is already extremely challenging, and people like myself with mental health concerns who had relied on these services for stability have become unmoored ever since. Mental health staff have become so scarce that individuals with severe diagnoses have gone years without being seen.

As a result of these staff shortages, visitation privileges that were revoked during the pandemic have also not been fully reinstated. Visits have been reduced from six to two hours and must be scheduled online a week in advance. Their reduced duration and ease of visitation have deterred many families who must make long trips. Additionally, all of the special programs that once assisted incarcerated mothers visits with their children stopped and have yet to start again. This has severed vital bonds that, in some cases, may never be restored.

Despite the growing staff shortage from before the pandemic, educational and extracurricular programs were still available. My facility offered several vocational trades, a GED and charter high school program, and opportunities for theological and higher education through Emory and Life University. Parole-required groups were available, and peer-led groups were common. Religious services were also a regular part of the prison roster, and various ministries were active within the community. In March 2020, all of these activities were canceled and have only just started to return this year.

Rehabilitation efforts have also declined significantly since the pandemic. Previously, the GDCs mission had been focused on successful reentry with the help of education, programming, and health care. The GDC released a new mission statement in 2019 stating that the department would focus on facility security and staff safety, and the pandemic exacerbated this shift, revealing a clear and extreme change in attitude away from opportunities for residents to rehabilitate. Since then, the mission has been revised again to readdress rehabilitation on paper, but the damage is done. The culture of the community has changed so much that even programs that have returned are largely unsuccessful. We went from a motivated, collective community to a traumatized, suffering group that no longer has the emotional strength or mental energy to invest in the few opportunities that eventually returned. Participation rates have dropped significantly as residents have become preoccupied with their survival.

The absence of adequate correctional staff, medical care, opportunities for visitation, and educational programming have severely compromised the safety, stability, and support necessary for the women in Georgias state prison. In their place, narcotics have flooded the institution. For many, years of sobriety have been undone. As members of my community have struggled with substance use, they have also succumbed to poverty and depression and become unrecognizable.

People who once found ways to thrive in prison and managed to survive wave after wave of a deadly virus are now suffering physically, emotionally, and psychologically in the foreign and unforgiving terrain of corrections new normal. For us, the lasting effects of the pandemic persist, and the full consequences are still unknown. I personally have experienced persistent dizziness ever since my first infection. Others suffer from lingering respiratory damage, permanent cardiovascular strain, unexplainable rashes, and body aches. We are no longer tested or quarantined, even when staff members test positive and miss work. Since the first booster, no follow-ups have been provided. COVID is still here. We may have just survived another wave, but the prison system and the people who live here cannot recover.

The Right to Write (R2W) project is an editorial initiative where Prism works with incarcerated writers to share their reporting and perspectives across our verticals and coverage areas. Learn more about R2W and how to pitch here.

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COVID-19 is far from over for the incarcerated - Prism

CDC website on a laptop

(Adobe Stock unknown)

The CDCs recent decision to harmonize recommendations for respiratory viruses has the public and infectious disease societies in support. The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) supports the CDCs harmonization in a recent blog post.IDSAs immediate past president Carlos del Rio has supported rolling back COVID-19 incubation recommendations as early as December 2021 when he was an advisor at Delta Airlines and petitioned the CDC to drop the isolation rates for vaccine breakthrough infections from 10 to 5 days due to concerns it may significantly impact (Deltas) workforce and operations. Currently, IDSA is supporting the CDC in dropping the isolation time to 0 days for asymptomatic carriers. In view of protracted viral shedding in patients who have become symptom-free after infection (11% had positive cultures at 10 days) and a 40 to 50% rate of asymptomatic infections, some have concerns regarding this decision. The lower-case fatality rate of the Omicron variant is overridden by its high infectivity, increasing the chances of becoming severely sick from participating in social activities. The Omicron wave was associated with some of the highest community rates of deaths and hospitalizations during the pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 is much more infectious than influenza, possibly approaching that of measles. SARS-CoV-2 also has a higher incidence of death and long-term sequelae, including autoimmune diseases.

However, we need to ask: Should SARS-CoV-2, with its frequent period of asymptomatic spread and high infectivity, be harmonized with other non-ACE2 receptor respiratory viruses? And is COVID-19 even a respiratory illness, as opposed to a multi-system disease that can masquerade in many different forms, similar to syphilis?

A better prevention harmonization may well be with the measles and polio viruses.

Measles and polio cases mainly affect the young, but as a senior citizen, I can testify that life and livelihood at all ages are just as precious.

The impending loss of herd immunity for measles is an ominous development. Measles is a DNA virus and thus has a lower mutation rate than SARS-CoV-2, but it still can mutate. Historically, there was a rapid uptake of the measles vaccine, and the spread was halted. But now the virus is spreading and mutating. Already, a strain of measles has been detected in Italy which escapes tests. If we keep on spreading the measles virus, we risk it developing resistance to the vaccine. COVID-19 is still ravaging our society, with over 200 deaths each week and over 20,000 individuals in the hospital each day. And the tolls of long COVID may be mounting, not decreasing. During the first week of February 2024, 6.8% of all adults are experiencing long COVID symptoms, up from 5.3% during the week of October 18 to 30, 2023. In Sweden, a country that had very few COVID-19 interventions, a major insurance company, If, reported that after the pandemic, 1 in 3 young adults are experiencing brain fog.

We need to ask, if we are allowing asymptomatic individuals with COVID-19 to mingle in our community, how can we effectively message the public to increase their vigilance and vaccination rates for diseases with similar or even less severe outcomes?

The mantra that we are now in a better place gives a misleading impression. We are still in a dangerous place that requires increased vigilance and strategies to prevent infectious diseases.

I started my medical career attending to cancer patients. I would hear the pleading from patients and their friends, trying to minimize the disease and avoid treatments. But you cannot bargain with cancer, nor can you with COVID-19. The virus does not care what society is willing to do; it only exists to reproduce and, in its wake, is left with death and disability.

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COVID-19 Harmonization: Balancing Risks and Benefits of CDC's Latest Move - Infection Control Today

FILE - Travelers pass a sign near a COVID-19 testing site in Terminal E at Logan Airport, on Dec. 21, 2021, in Boston. (Charles Krupa / AP Photo, File)

NEW YORK (AP) The nations top public health agency is expanding a program that tests international travelers for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Preventionprogramasks arriving international passengers to volunteer to have their noses swabbed and answer questions about their travel. The program operates at six airports and on Tuesday, the CDC said it was adding two more Chicagos OHare and Miami.

Those locations should provide more information about respiratory infections coming out of South America, Africa and Asia, particularly, CDC officials said.

Miami and Chicago enable us to collect samples coming from areas of the world where global surveillance is not as strong as it used to be, said the CDCs Allison Taylor Walker. What we really need is a good view of whats happening in the world so were prepared for the next thing.

The program began in 2021, and has been credited with detecting coronavirus variants faster than other systems. The genomic testing of travelers nasal swabs has mainly been focused on COVID-19, but testing also is being done for two other respiratory viruses flu and RSV.

Participants are not notified of their results. But they are given a COVID-19 home test kit to take with them, CDC officials say.

Samples have come from more than 475,000 air travelers coming off flights from more than 135 countries, officials said.

Health officials also have been sampling wastewater that comes off international flights at a few airports. That testing is for COVID-19, but CDC officials are evaluating the possibility of monitoring wastewater for other things, Walker said.

The CDC program has a current budget of about $37 million. The agency pays two companies, Ginkgo Bioworks and XWell, to do sample collection and testing. The companies are working with CDC to grow the program to check for more than 30 different disease-causing germs.

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Airport Nasal Swabbing Expanding to Chicago and Miami - WTTW News

CONWAY, S.C. (WPDE)

This month marks four years since Conway Medical Center admitted its first COVID-19 patient.

In many ways, life will never return to the way it was before the pandemic, especially for doctors and nurses who were, and still are, on the frontlines.

Medical Officer of Conway Medical Center Doctor Paul Richardson said they learned a lot of lessons from the pandemic, and the virus is still having lingering effects on the hospital.

But now that the height of the pandemic is over, Richardson said he and his staff can finally take a moment to catch their breath.

"We were able to take a breath, sort of catch a breath and catch a break. But really starting to reallocate resources back to what our primary admission was because we saw patients who had a pin-up need for healthcare services," he said.

Richardson was at Conway Medical Center the day they admitted their first Coronavirus patient.

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We were triaging folks from our ED, outside because we were seeing so much respiratory illness at that time. It was a very very labor-intensive, restrictive environment. We had to restrict access into the building even," he said.

March 2020 is when our area really began to be impacted by the virus.

Richardson said some patients put off important procedures like screening mammograms when COVID was at its peak, and because of that, they're still getting caught up on those appointments.

He said COVID changed how the healthcare industry operates daily, adding that hospital staff had to cross-train and do jobs they normally didn't do.

However, he said everyone learned a lot of new skills.

I think were still digging out, if you will, from COVID. We still have the lingering effects of that as far as various things. The other thing I think weve seen a rise of, which is probably actually a good thing is the so-called telemedicine," he said.

Coronavirus%20testing%20sites%20close.%20(WPEC)

Richardson said having virtual doctor's visits allows hospital workers to be more available for their patients.

That was around before COVID, but really during the COVID period it really got advanced. And so, the technology advanced the acceptance of it, from both provider and patient has advanced. So, weve seen a lot of advances in that regard, and I think thats a good thing," he said.

And another change is people's self-awareness.

I think the other thing were seeing a lot of is peoples awareness of infection control and that kind of thing. We learned a lot of lessons through COVID. So, thats been a great thing as well. I think we all are probably a little more cognizant as far as the masking and that kind of thing, I think things have pretty much gone back to normal, quote on quote. But yeah, I like to think folks are at least a little aware, self-aware," Richardson said.

University%20of%20Scranton%20nursing%20student%20Glen%20Johnson%20administers%20the%20Moderna%20COVID-19%20vaccine%20to%20a%20medical%20professional%20during%20a%20clinic%20at%20the%20Throop%20Civic%20Center%20in%20Throop,%20Pa.%20on%20Saturday,%20Jan.%209,%202021.%20The%20Lackawanna%20County%20Medical%20Society%20had%20about%20400%20doses%20of%20the%20Moderna%20vaccine%20on%20hand%20to%20administer%20to%20people%20in%20Pennsylvania's%20Phase%201A%20group%20of%20the%20vaccine%20rollout%20plan,%20which%20is%20limited%20to%20healthcare%20personnel%20and%20long-term%20care%20facility%20residents.%20(Christopher%20Dolan/The%20Times-Tribune%20via%20AP)

Above all else, he said hospital staff, nurses, and doctors are the ones who've been through the most change.

Richardson said the vaccine was a game changer, and they really started to turn the corner because of it.

Thousands of doses ran through here in the first several weeks and I still get asked to this day if I believe in the vaccine. The vaccine was a game changer. Were in a different place today. Thats really where we started to turn the corner," he said.

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4- years later: Conway doctor reflects on what's changed since COVID-19 began - wpde.com

SAN JOSE, CA - MARCH 19: A newly installed message on City Lights Theater Company's marquee is seen on March 19, 2020, in San Jose, Calif. The theater company closed its doors temporarily on March 13 due to new restrictions around public gatherings to help stop the spread of coronavirus. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)

When COVID-19 forced Bay Area theaters to shut their doors and cancel their seasons, many predicted they would have the hardest road back from the pandemic. They werent wrong. Performing arts groups juggled with masking protocols, schedule changes caused by illness, costs for safety equipment and audiences that needed to be cajoled to return.

Burglaries are the last thing they need, but thats happening, too.

City Lights Theater Company in downtown San Jose was the latest victim, as their downtown theater and offices were broken into over the weekend. Thieves ransacked the concessions area and took props including tablets and other equipment set to be used for the upcoming production of King Liz, which is going into tech rehearsals this week. A pile of power tools was left behind possibly, Executive Artistic Director Lisa Mallette suspects, because they were too heavy to haul away before police responded to the alarm.

Thats what counts as a silver lining to this sorry tale. Mallette told me a police report was filed and the thieves were captured on security cameras, but theyre not identifiable and she has little hope theyll be caught.

This isnt City Lights first burglary, and theyre far from alone. In 2021, San Jose Dance Theater discovered thieves had made off with nearly 100 handmade costumes a few were later recovered at a San Jose park. In 2022, San Jose Playhouses fun production of Xanadu on its parking garage rooftop was curtailed after thieves bypassed security measures, vandalizing sets and making off with equipment. Undoubtedly, many more theater burglary stories have happened in between.

City Lights will fix things as best it can and do whatever it needs to in order to open King Liz as planned March 21. Mallette certainly hopes that donors are generous at the companys Black and White Time Warp Ball fundraiser at the Westin San Jose on April 27. Until then, think about filling some seats at City Lights, San Jose Stage, San Jose Playhouse and other local theaters. Big audiences are the best way to get everyone back on their feet.

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES: Of course, its hard to get audiences back to arts events in downtown San Jose if they dont know about them. Thats why the San Jose Downtown Association, in partnership with the Knight Foundation and the citys Department of Transportation, is offering $100,000 in arts marketing grants to organizations that serve downtown San Jose. A total of 20 grants of $5,000 each will be made available, and the application deadline is March 29 at 5 p.m.

San Jose Downtown Association CEO Alex Stettinski said the organization is thrilled to support the arts community with these grants. Through these funds, we aim to promote cultural experiences, enhance downtown vitality, and contribute to the overall vibrancy of our city, he said.

WINDOW TO THE SOUL?: Bellarmine College Preps annual Golden Bell auction is one event that does seem to have come back. More than 400 supporters of the Jesuit boys school in San Jose partied in the gym last Saturday night. They were entertained by the music of the Speakeasies (led by vocalist Jackie Gage) and contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars for the schools tuition assistance fund in the live and silent auctions.

When it comes to unique auction items, the Bells will be tough to beat this year. The items included a stained-glass window featuring St. Alphonsus Rodriguez that had adorned the Jesuits personal chapel at Wade Hall from 1960 until this year. It was one of eight that were removed before the buildings demolition and restored. Six have been installed in a new chapel at the at the Bellarmine Jesuit Community and the seventh will be installed in another campus building. The remaining window was auctioned for $5,000.

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Still recovering from COVID-19 shutdown, San Jose theater hit with burglary - The Mercury News

Wednesday, March 11, 2020: DeWine: Cancel, limit events

In an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, Gov. Mike DeWine asked organizers of indoor sporting events including NCAA March Madness games to ban spectators, communities to cancel parades and other large gatherings and nursing homes to screen visitors.

Thursday, March 12, 2020: NCAA Wont allow fans at game

The NCAA announced that its Division I basketball tournament games will be played without fans in attendance because of concerns about the spread of coronavirus.

Friday, March 13, 2020: All schools to close; Large gatherings prohibited

DeWine ordered all public and private K-12 schools to close for three weeks, beginning at the end of the school day Monday, in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Saturday, March 14, 2020: President declares a National Emergency

President Donald Trump declared the coronavirus to be a national emergency, opening up billions of dollars in funding for state and local governments, as a series of major companies agreed to cooperate in a partnership with the White House to help test thousands of Americans for the disease.

Sunday, March 15, 2020: This is going to be here for a while

Seven Ohioans were hospitalized with the virus at this point. There were no confirmed cases in Montgomery, Greene, Miami or Warren counties. The closest confirmed cases were four in Butler County.

Monday, March 16, 2020: Restaurants, bars ordered to close

DeWine said that after seeing photos of packed bars over the weekend and considering the upcoming St. Patricks Day, he decided the order was needed to force social distancing, the practice of avoiding crowds and staying at least six feet away from others.

Tuesday, March 17, 2020: Virus cases in Ohio increase; Movie theaters, gyms close

Fifty cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Ohio. DeWine and Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton order bowling alleys, movie theaters, indoor water parks, indoor trampoline parks, fitness centers, gyms and recreation centers to close. Acton issues a public order in the evening closing Ohios polling locations. Public gatherings are limited to 50 people.

Wednesday, March 18, 2020: Areas first test site opens

The regions first drive-up testing for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, began in earnest at the University of Dayton Arena parking lot. By the time it ended 235 people had come to be tested

Thursday, March 19, 2020: Area has first positive tests for Coronavirus

Ohio had at least 119 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, according to the Ohio Department of Health. In addition, the first case was confirmed by Warren County health officials.

Friday, March 20, 2020: Long days take toll on grocery store employees

Dayton-area grocery store employees worked long, arduous hours as customers some irate rushed to build up their food supplies in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Saturday, March 21, 2020: DeWine: Dont ignore health orders

Gov. Mike DeWine issued a stern warning to businesses ignoring public health orders against large gatherings and advice about social distancing and disinfection.

Sunday, March 22, 2020: Facility sees 2nd death

A second death was under investigation at Koester Pavilion, a Miami County nursing home, where COVID-19 had spread.

Monday, March 23, 2020: Ohioans ordered to stay at home

Acton issued an order telling Ohioans to stay at home to prevent the spread of coronavirus, or COVID-19, which had infected hundreds of people in the state already.

Tuesday, March 24, 2020: State preps for tax revenue drop

Anticipating a crash in tax revenues, DeWine announced an immediate hiring freeze and told his cabinet to look for spending cuts of up to 20 percent.

Wednesday, March 25, 2020: Coronavirus crisis impacts thousands of Ohio jobs

After a state order took effect, Ohios non-essential businesses were supposed to close and non-essential workers were told to stay home to try to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

Thursday, March 26, 2020: State lawmakers move quickly on emergency bill

State lawmakers moved swiftly on a coronavirus emergency bill that waives K-12 state testing and graduation requirements, bumped Ohios income-tax filing deadline to July 15, and extended mail-in voting for the postponed March 17 primary to April 28.

Friday, March 27, 2020: What $2T stimulus package promises

The U.S. Senate passed an unparalleled $2.2 trillion economic rescue package steering aid to businesses, workers and health care systems engulfed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Saturday, March 28, 2020: We do not have a whole lot of time

The Ohio National Guard was called in to oversee a massive build-out of hospital beds as the state prepares for a peak in coronavirus cases in mid-May.

Sunday, March 29, 2020: Doctor: Nursing homes going to see deaths

With coronavirus cases and deaths multiplying daily, nursing homes and assisted living facilities faced special challenges in protecting their uniquely vulnerable residents and the people who care for them.

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COVID-19 history in Dayton: How March 2020 unfolded in headlines - Dayton Daily News

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Outside review: NJ and others 'collectively failed' in COVID-19 response | Video - NJ Spotlight News

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Global life expectancy the average number of years a person can expect to live from their time of birth dropped by 1.6 years at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, new research shows.

Global life expectancy had been on the rise until the pandemic struck, jumping from 49 years in 1950 to more than 73 years in 2019, according to the new study, published Tuesday (March 12) in the journal The Lancet. But between 2019 and 2021, this historical trend was reversed. This time frame captures the first two years of the pandemic, in which death rates peaked.

"For adults worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a more profound impact than any event seen in half a century, including conflicts and natural disasters," lead author Austin Schumacher, an acting assistant professor of health metric sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle, said in a statement.

In 2020 and 2021 combined, approximately 16 million people died either directly from COVID-19 or from the knock-on effects of the global outbreak, which included delays in seeking health care. This excess death toll reduced global life expectancy from 73.4 years in 2019 to below 71.8 years in 2021, with stark regional differences not reflected in these global averages.

The study presents updated mortality estimates from the 2021 Global Burden of Disease Study, which quantified global health trends across places and over time. In the work, researchers analyzed data from 204 countries and territories. Of these, only 32 showed an increase in life expectancy between 2019 and 2021. Those countries included Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Iceland, Ireland and Norway, which are all high-income countries.

Related: Rare clotting effect of early COVID shots finally explained what could that mean for future vaccines?

"Life expectancy declined in 84% of countries and territories during this pandemic, demonstrating the devastating potential impacts of novel pathogens," Schumacher said.

Among countries, Peru and Bolivia had some of the largest drops in life expectancy across all age groups from 2019 to 2021, according to the statement. In addition, Mexico City saw a particularly large drop compared with other subnational locations.

When the researchers looked at age groups separately instead of lumping them all together, they found that the South African provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo had some of the highest excess mortality rates and largest life expectancy declines in the world. These provinces have relatively young populations whose data can skew the overall life expectancy averages, so parsing the data in this way can help reveal the true impact of COVID-19 on older groups, in particular.

Accounting for the age distribution of the population in a given location also revealed high excess mortality rates in Jordan and Nicaragua, where the death toll had previously been concealed by grouping all age categories together, according to the statement.

New Zealand, Barbados, and Antigua and Barbuda, on the other hand, had some of the lowest age-adjusted excess mortality rates from the pandemic, despite life expectancy declining between 2019 and 2021 in the two Caribbean countries.

According to the study authors' estimates, the pandemic caused global mortality to jump among all people over age 15, with a 22% increase in mortality for males and a 17% increase for females between 2019 and 2021. Child mortality, on the other hand, declined by 7% during the same period, with half a million fewer deaths among children under age 5 in 2021 compared with in 2019.

"Our study suggests that, even after taking stock of the terrible loss of lives the world experienced due to the pandemic, we have made incredible progress over 72 years since 1950, with child mortality continuing to drop globally," co-lead author Hmwe Kyu, an associate professor of health metric sciences at the University of Washington, said in the statement.

Although this global trend stayed on track, stark differences in child mortality rates persisted among regions. The highest rates were recorded in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, even after adjusting for mortality linked to the ongoing AIDS epidemic in these regions.

Ever wonder why some people build muscle more easily than others or why freckles come out in the sun? Send us your questions about how the human body works to community@livescience.com with the subject line "Health Desk Q," and you may see your question answered on the website!

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COVID pandemic knocked 1.6 years off global life expectancy, study finds - Livescience.com