Coronavirus has become the leading cause of death in the United States, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that the seven-day moving average of deaths from COVID-19 is currently 2,430 deaths per day, three times higher than the figure a month ago.
Respiratory disease claims 1.4 times as many lives per day as heart disease and 1.5 times as many as cancer.
Additionally, this means that the daily death rate for COVID-19 in the US is equivalent to the 9/11 attacks – which resulted in 2,988 lives lost – that happen every 1.5 days.
The team, from Virginia Commonwealth University, says it is more “ urgent ” than ever for Americans to wear masks and distance themselves socially rather than fear that death rates will only continue to rise as people get together for the holidays.
It comes as the daily death toll continues to rise with a record 3,656 American deaths on Wednesday.
Between November 1 and December 13, the seven-day moving average for daily COVID-19 deaths tripled from 826 to 2,430
In comparison, the seven-day moving average death rate for heart disease and cancer is 1,700 deaths per day and 1,600 deaths per day, respectively. In the photo: Sammie Michael Dent, Jr., Florence Bolton’s grandson, who died of COVID-19, looks at her casket at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chicago, Illinois, December 9
For the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the team looked at the three leading causes of death for 10 age groups, ranging from infancy to old age.
Data on COVID-19 mortality rates came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from March to October 2020.
Meanwhile, data for the other causes of death has been aggregated from March to October 2018, the most recent period for which complete data is available.
In October 2020, COVID-19 became the second leading cause of death for adults aged 85 and older, after heart disease.
The disease was the third leading cause of death among Americans between the ages of 45 and 84, after heart disease and cancer.
“Adults aged 45 or older died earlier in those months from COVID-19 than from chronic lower respiratory disease, transportation accidents, drug overdoses, suicide or murder,” the authors wrote.
However, those under 45 were more likely to die from drug overdose, suicide, cancer, and car accidents than coronavirus.
The team notes that these numbers are the total eight-month mortality rate and not the current mortality rate.
Researchers found that between On Nov. 1 and Dec. 13, the seven-day moving average of daily COVID-19 deaths tripled from 826 to 2,430.
Heart disease and cancer lead to about 1,700 deaths per day and 1,600 deaths per day, respectively.
This means that COVID-19 has become more deadly than heart disease and cancer, and this rate could increase and people travel and gather for Christmas.
The team says the actual number of deaths could be much higher, as much as 20 percent, due to underestimation of excess deaths.
“The failure of the public and its leaders to take adequate measures to prevent viral transmission has made the nation more vulnerable, making COVID-19 the leading cause of death in the United States,” the authors wrote.
The prospect of a vaccine offers hope for 2021, but that solution will not come soon enough to prevent a catastrophic increase in COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths.
“The need for the entire population to take the disease seriously – especially to wear masks and maintain social distance – couldn’t be more urgent.”