These deaths have wide-ranging consequences. The effects on children may be the longest-lasting. In the U.S., an estimated 243,000 children have lost a caregiver to COVID—including 194,000 who lost one or both parents—and the psychological and economic aftershocks can have lifetime negative impacts on their education and career.

Certain communities have been hit especially hard, with older Americans and people of color suffering disproportionately. As of March 25, about three quarters of the dead, or around 730,000, have been people 65 and older. Many of them were otherwise healthy and, statistically, would have lived many more years, says Jennifer Dowd, a demographer at the University of Oxford. Their passing leaves a giant hole, she notes. “We’re probably not accounting for all the ways in which we rely on that age group to contribute to society,” from caring for grandkids to providing stable intergenerational family structures, Dowd says. On average, every death from COVID leaves nine people grieving.

Source: What One Million COVID Dead Mean for the U.S.’s Future – Scientific American