COVID-19 has become the leading cause of death in the U.S. in just the first month of 2021, according to a new study.
The study, which was published by the Peterson Center on Healthcare and the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), found that as of January 26, over 3,000 Americans per day died of COVID-19 during the month.
The report said COVID-19 accounted for 3,049 deaths per day this month, followed by heart disease, at 2,068 daily deaths, and cancer, with at least 1,639 deaths per day.
“That number is staggering compared to other leading causes of death and is nearly 50% higher than the next leading cause,” the report said. “Heart disease, which is typically the number one cause of death in the U.S. each year, leads to the death of about 2,000 Americans per day, and cancer claims about 1,600 American lives per day.”
Medical workers at the Kaiser Permanente French Campus test a patient for the coronavirus at a drive-thru testing facility in San Francisco on March 12, 2020. Josh Edelson/Getty
The study used data that combined COVID-19 mortality rate data from KFF’s tracker with data from the U.S. for Disease Control and Prevention “on weekly counts of death by jurisdiction and cause of death.”
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for comment but did not hear back before publication.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated when more information becomes available.
