TAMPA, Fla. — A year into the coronavirus pandemic, health experts have a clearer picture of the virus's impact on Americans and they say it's the third-leading cause of death across the country.
According to March 4 data from Johns Hopkins University, 519,316 people in the United States have died after being diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began last March. The U.S. currently has more than 28.7 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, the most in the world.
Projections from the University of Washington show the country could reach 574,062 total deaths from COVID-19 by June 1, 2021.
According to the latest CDC data, more people have died from the virus than any other cause of death aside from heart disease and cancer. It is important to note the latest complete data from the CDC is from 2019. The 2020 data has not yet been released.
More people have died from COVID-19 than accidents, chronic respiratory disease, stroke, Alzheimer's, diabetes, kidney disease, influenza and pneumonia and suicide.
CDC data shows 659,041 people died from heart disease and 599,601 people died from cancer in 2019.
It should be noted that unlike most other leading causes of death, COVID-19 is driven by infection. Compared to influenza, which the CDC reported 49,783 deaths in 2019 combined with pneumonia, COVID-19 is more than 10 times more deadly than the next most widespread transmittable illness.
To give even more context, the CDC has calculated and tracked "excess deaths" associated with COVID-19. The data comes from the "difference between the observed numbers of deaths in specific time periods and expected numbers of deaths in the same time periods." What this does is give experts a way to determine whether the number of deaths is significantly higher than expected compared to historical data.
According to the data listed for "excess deaths" with and without COVID-19, several weeks over the past year showed more than 20,000 additional excess deaths associated with the virus.
Here in Florida, 31,955 people across the state have died after being diagnosed with COVID-19, according to the latest report. And, 1,930,232 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the Sunshine State.
Some good news -- 3,258,997 people in Florida have received a COVID-19 vaccine, and 1,815,999 of those have received their second dose, meaning they are considered fully vaccinated against the virus.
Still, experts advise caution and for everyone to continue following CDC guidelines such as mask-wearing and social distancing, particularly in light of the emergence of new virus variants. Florida currently has the most confirmed cases of the UK variant reported in the U.S. with 599 cases.
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