NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. life expectancy dropped for the second consecutive year in 2021, falling by nearly a year from 2020. That’s according to a new government report. In the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the estimated American lifespan has shortened by nearly three years. The last comparable decrease happened in the early 1940s, during the height of World War II. The CDC reported the numbers Wednesday. COVID deaths were blamed for about half the decline in 2021. However, there were also some other big contributors, including drug overdoses, heart disease, suicide and chronic liver disease.