Coronavirus exposes the inequality in America, and may exacerbate it

Well before Covid-19 struck, there was another rampant epidemic in the United States, killing more Americans in 2018 than the coronavirus so far. What we call “deaths of despair” – by suicide, alcohol-related liver disease and drug overdose – have risen rapidly from about 65,000 in 1995 to 158,000 in 2018.This increase is almost entirely confined to Americans without a four-year college degree; overall mortality rates have fallen for those with a four-year degree. Life expectancy at birth for…

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