COVID in US – Putting the 240,000 projections in perspective

In 2017, a total of about 2.8 million people died in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The leading cause, as usual, was heart disease, which killed 647,457 people. At a high of 240,000 fatalities (assuming we continue to social distance, and assuming for the moment that the White House estimates are accurate), COVID-19 wouldn’t come close to being the nation’s top killer.

But for comparison’s sake: Alzheimer’s disease killed 121,404 people that year, and in the flu and pneumonia category, 55,672 died. In 2018, about 37,000 Americans died in automobile accidents, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. So the coronavirus death toll could overtake all of those categories combined.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story @ Putting Trump’s 240,000 dead coronavirus projections in perspective – Los Angeles Times