Source: The Hill
COVID-19 was the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. between March 2020 and October 2021, according to an analysis of federal data published July 5 in JAMA.
- Researchers at the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, analyzed death certificate data and found that the coronavirus accounted for 350,000 deaths — 1 in every 8 — in the U.S. during that 20-month period.
- Compared with 2020, deaths from COVID-19 in 2021 decreased in ranking among those aged 85 years and older but increased in ranking among those aged 15 to 54 years and became the leading cause of death among those aged 45 to 54 years.
Among those aged 85 and older, the coronavirus was the second-leading cause of death in 2020 but dropped to third in 2021, likely because of targeted vaccination efforts in this age group.