NSC: COVID-19 on pace to become third leading cause of death in 2020
Rate surpasses total number of preventable accidental deaths
The National Safety Council is highly alarmed to see that the mortality numbers for COVID-19 already have surpassed the total annual number of preventable, accidental deaths in 2018, the most recent year of final data – and it is only August. At this pace, COVID-19 likely will be the third leading cause of death in 2020, behind only heart disease and cancer. It would mark the first time since 2016 that preventable deaths – which include drug overdoses, motor vehicle crashes and falls – would not be the third leading cause of death in the United States.
According to the latest data, the number of confirmed and probable COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. now exceeds 170,000, eclipsing the total number of preventable deaths in 2018 (167,127).