The life expectancy of Shelby County residents dropped nearly 4 years as the area headed into the Covid pandemic, according to the latest data from the Shelby County Health Department (SCHD).
The report issued Wednesday showed a life expectancy of about 76.6 in 2015. That figure fell sharply to 72.8 in 2020.
These trends mirror data from the U.S. and the state of Tennessee. New state and local data are not yet available, but if state and local trends continue to parallel national trends, life expectancy is expected to rebound.
Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show the figure bounced back to a record high of 79 years in 2024.
The SCHD report says deaths associated with Covid-19 were directly responsible for the decline in life expectancy here. That decline was sharper for Black residents of Shelby County than white residents, the report says. Overall, “Black life expectancy remains significantly lower than the average life expectancy” in Shelby County each year, it says.
The report does not say how many were killed in total by Covid in Shelby County in all of the pandemic. However, it does say that the disease killed 2,997 from 2020-2023, the height of the pandemic.
In 2022, Covid accounted for 82 deaths per 100,000 residents. This was higher than the statewide average of 62 deaths per 100,000. Shelby County residents died of Covid at a higher rate than the average of the rest of the state.
Reported cases totaled 334,843 at the end of 2024.
Shelby cOunty HEalth Department
At the end of December 2024, the SCHD said total reported Covid cases reached 334,843. But they knew this figure had to be higher.
“Many Shelby County residents do not seek medical attention when they are sick,” reads the report. “Because of this, our understanding of the number of people who are ill at any given time will be underestimated.”
To fill the gap, the SCHD began testing wastewater in 2021. The agency still collects samples from wastewater treatment plants before water is treated. The samples are sent to labs, which tests them for genetic markers for several infectious viruses, like Covid, flu, and RSV.
These results can detect the presence of pathogens circulating in a community without needing to test people individually. It can also tell if a virus is increasing or decreasing within a community.
Covid deaths, though, were still roughly half of those caused by heart disease, the No. 1 killer in Shelby County. The report says heart disease killed 6,376 here from 2020-2023, double the deaths of Covid in the same time period.
Cancer remained the No. 2 killer in 2020-2023. It accounted for a total of 4,832 deaths.