A COVID-19 patient arrives outside Maimonides Medical Center, New York, U.S., November 17, 2020. /Reuters
New U.S. government data shows that the country saw somewhere around 600,000 more deaths than usual during a 13-month span. COVID-19 was blamed for most of those deaths.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the new estimate on Thursday. It covers the time period from January 26, 2020 to February 27, 2021. COVID-19 was first detected in the U.S. in late January of last year.
CDC researchers said the biggest spikes in the deaths occurred in early April, late July, and the very end of December.
At least 75 percent of the deaths were directly tied to COVID-19, the CDC said.