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Analysis of Number and Cause of Death in the US During the COVID-19 Pandemic

First identified in December 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2, results in the disease known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In March 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a global pandemic.⁽³⁾ Since December 2019, there have been 7,633,886 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across 216 countries or territories, which has resulted in 426,317 deaths (as of June 14 2020).⁽²⁾

SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, is easily transmissible, spreading via respiratory droplets that are then inhaled by others.⁽³⁾ The majority of people infected will experience respiratory illness classified as mild to moderate, however, patients with underlying health conditions such as respiratory diseases, circulatory diseases, malignant neoplasms, Alzheimer Disease and dementia are likely to develop more serious symptoms and complications.^(1,2)

Utilizing the “Weekly counts of death by jurisdiction and cause of death” dataset provided publicly by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this project aims to assess the possible excess of deaths in 2020 (possibly due indirectly to COVID-19), as well as understand the frequency of death caused by the most prevalent comorbid conditions reported in cases of COVID-19 related deaths. This analysis will not include deaths deemed to be caused directly by COVID-19, or ones that occurred due to injuries or unknown causes.