Prognosis
Covid Was Third-Leading Cause of U.S. Deaths in 2020, CDC Says
- Virus contributed to a 15.9% spike in the death rate from 2019
- New analysis of death certificates unpacks demographic data
Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images
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Covid-19 was the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. last year, contributing to a 15.9% increase in the national mortality rate from a year earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report.
The disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 was the underlying or contributing cause of 377,883 deaths in the U.S. last year, according to the CDC’s National Vital Statistics System, which collects and reports provisional annual mortality data. Only heart disease and cancer were more deadly, and Covid also displaced suicide as one of the top 10 causes of death.