Since March 2020, COVID-19-related deaths claimed over a million lives in the U.S. alone. In the pandemic’s early phases, most deaths were among older adults, but in 2021, deaths in younger persons increased while deaths in older persons decreased. A new study by two investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, addresses this unexpected shift in COVID-19 mortality to relatively younger Americans and finds an increase in years of life lost due to COVID-19. Looking at this trend more closely brings to light important questions on the COVID-19 pandemic, mortality trends, and public health. Their results are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.