Excess U.S. Deaths Caused by COVID-19

Between March and July of 2020, excess deaths in the U.S. rose by 20%. To evaluate if this trend continued for the rest of 2020, investigators updated the excess deaths analysis using provisional death counts from the District of Columbia and 49 states (excluding North Carolina). Deaths were designated as COVID-19-associated if the COVID-19 diagnosis was listed as the underlying or contributing cause of death.

From March 2020 to January 2021, >2.8 million deaths occurred, which was 23% higher than expected compared with the incidence from 2014–2019. Rates of excess death were highest among the non-Hispanic Black population (208 deaths/100,000), followed by non-Hispanic White (157/100,000) and Hispanic populations (140/100,000). COVID-19-asso…