Updated Data From CDC Shows That ONLY 6% Of The 161,392 Reported US Coronavirus Deaths Are Related To COVID-19

Note: Provisional death counts are based on death certificate data received and coded by the National Center for Health Statistics as of August 27, 2020.

Death counts are delayed and may differ from other published sources (see Technical Notes). Counts will be updated periodically.

Additional information will be added to this site as available.

The provisional counts for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) deaths are based on a current flow of mortality data in the National Vital Statistics System.

National provisional counts include deaths occurring within the 50 states and the District of Columbia that have been received and coded as of the date specified.

It is important to note that it can take several weeks for death records to be submitted to National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), processed, coded, and tabulated.

Therefore, the data shown on this page may be incomplete, and will likely not include all deaths that occurred during a given time period, especially for the more recent time periods.

Death counts for earlier weeks are continually revised and may increase or decrease as new and updated death certificate data are received from the states by NCHS. COVID-19 death counts shown here may differ from other published sources, as data currently are lagged by an average of 1–2 weeks.

The provisional data presented on this page include the weekly provisional count of deaths in the United States due to COVID-19, deaths from all causes and percent of expected deaths (i.e., number of deaths received over number of deaths expected based on data from previous years), pneumonia deaths (excluding pneumonia deaths involving influenza), pneumonia deaths involving COVID-19, influenza deaths, and deaths involving pneumonia, influenza, or COVID-19; (a) by week ending date and (b) by specific jurisdictions.

For the Index of Provisional COVID-19 Mortality Surveillance and Ad-hoc Data Files, click here.

Table 1 has counts of death involving COVID-19 and select causes of death by the week ending date in which the death occurred. For deaths involving COVID-19 by week ending date at the state level, .

Table 1. Deaths involving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), pneumonia, and influenza reported to NCHS by week ending date, United States. Week ending 2/1/2020 to 8/22/2020.*

Updated August 28, 2020

Week ending date in which the death occurred	All Deaths involving COVID-19 (U07.1)¹	Deaths from All Causes	Percent of Expected Deaths²	Deaths involving Pneumonia, with or without COVID-19, excluding Influenza deaths (J12.0–J18.9)³	Deaths involving COVID-19 and Pneumonia, excluding Influenza (U07.1 and J12.0–J18.9)³	All Deaths involving Influenza, with or without COVID-19 or Pneumonia (J09–J11), includes COVID-19 or Pneumonia⁴	Deaths involving Pneumonia, Influenza, or COVID-19 (U07.1 or J09–J18.9)⁵
Total Deaths	167,558	1,801,150	111	171,800	74,236	6,655	270,792
2/1/2020	0	58,555	99	3,792	0	479	4,271
2/8/2020	1	59,270	99	3,796	0	520	4,317
2/15/2020	0	58,672	100	3,822	0	556	4,378
2/22/2020	5	58,711	101	3,693	1	564	4,261
2/29/2020	9	59,132	103	3,817	5	654	4,475
3/7/2020	35	59,473	103	3,952	17	631	4,600
3/14/2020	52	58,186	102	3,940	27	619	4,583
3/21/2020	571	58,840	104	4,521	252	560	5,393
3/28/2020	3,152	62,801	112	6,161	1,425	441	8,279
4/4/2020	9,999	72,067	129	9,897	4,746	478	15,392
4/11/2020	16,152	78,798	142	11,968	7,214	474	21,040
4/18/2020	17,035	76,450	141	11,367	7,292	266	21,187
4/25/2020	15,388	73,511	137	10,338	6,586	143	19,187
5/2/2020	13,109	68,920	128	8,913	5,496	65	16,571
5/9/2020	11,136	66,478	126	7,803	4,693	47	14,283
5/16/2020	9,133	64,114	122	6,720	3,758	21	12,113
5/23/2020	7,126	61,200	117	5,836	2,947	24	10,034
5/30/2020	6,080	59,200	114	5,224	2,463	12	8,853
6/6/2020	4,948	58,304	111	4,846	2,127	11	7,678
6/13/2020	4,158	57,354	111	4,480	1,848	11	6,798
6/20/2020	3,758	57,099	110	4,301	1,585	7	6,480
6/27/2020	3,714	57,376	112	4,156	1,523	10	6,356
7/4/2020	4,354	57,982	112	4,407	1,940	4	6,822
7/11/2020	5,463	58,969	115	5,270	2,595	9	8,147
7/18/2020	6,717	59,271	116	5,807	3,241	12	9,292
7/25/2020	7,457	59,196	116	6,152	3,582	9	10,032
8/1/2020	6,993	57,299	112	5,862	3,402	11	9,459
8/8/2020	6,058	53,759	104	5,400	3,022	8	8,441
8/15/2020	3,988	45,195	88	3,968	1,983	5	5,975
8/22/2020	967	24,968	49	1,591	466	4	2,095

NOTE: Number of deaths reported in this table are the total number of deaths received and coded as of the date of analysis and do not represent all deaths that occurred in that period.

Counts of deaths occurring before or after the reporting period are not included in the table. The United States population, based on 2018 postcensal estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, is 327,167,434.

*Data during this period are incomplete because of the lag in time between when the death occurred and when the death certificate is completed, submitted to NCHS and processed for reporting purposes.

This delay can range from 1 week to 8 weeks or more, depending on the jurisdiction and cause of death.

¹Deaths with confirmed or presumed COVID-19, coded to ICD–10 code U07.1

²Percent of expected deaths is the number of deaths for all causes for this week in 2020 compared to the average number across the same week in 2017–2019. Previous analyses of 2015–2016 provisional data completeness have found that completeness is lower in the first few weeks following the date of death (<25%), and then increases over time such that data are generally at least 75% complete within 8 weeks of when the death occurred (8).

³Counts of deaths involving pneumonia include pneumonia deaths that also involve COVID-19 and exclude pneumonia deaths involving influenza.

⁴Counts of deaths involving influenza include deaths with pneumonia or COVID-19 also listed as a cause of death.

⁵Deaths with confirmed or presumed COVID-19, pneumonia, or influenza, coded to ICD–10 codes U07.1 or J09–J18.9.

Table 2. Deaths involving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), pneumonia, and influenza reported to NCHS by jurisdiction of occurrence, United States. Week ending 2/1/2020 to 8/22/2020.*

Updated August 28, 2020

Jurisdiction of Occurrence	All Deaths involving COVID-19 (U07.1)¹	Deaths from All Causes	Percent of Expected Deaths²	Deaths involving Pneumonia, with or without COVID-19, excluding Influenza deaths (J12.0–J18.9)³	Deaths involving COVID-19 and Pneumonia, excluding Influenza (J12.0–J18.9 and U07.1)³	All Deaths involving Influenza, with or without COVID-19 or Pneumonia (J09–J11)⁴	Deaths involving Pneumonia, Influenza, or COVID-19 (U07.1 or J09–J18.9)⁵
United States⁶	167,558	1,801,150	111	171,800	74,236	6,655	270,792
Alabama	2,420	32,868	109	2,430	755	100	4,190
Alaska	27	2,343	96	102	15	–	120
Arizona	4,424	42,746	125	4,706	2,533	115	6,712
Arkansas	737	19,308	107	1,435	307	77	1,941
California	11,916	169,253	110	17,162	6,652	578	23,002
Colorado	1,843	25,593	114	2,181	956	95	3,158
Connecticut	4,291	19,188	106	1,774	932	73	5,203
Delaware	550	5,960	113	465	217	16	814
District of Columbia	713	4,251	122	909	682	–	949
Florida	10,144	134,838	113	12,467	5,070	324	17,846
Georgia	4,284	52,842	109	4,354	1,910	112	6,838
Hawaii	36	6,630	99	387	15	20	428
Idaho	318	8,516	105	454	112	25	685
Illinois	7,246	70,210	117	7,346	3,555	178	11,212
Indiana	3,138	40,886	109	3,798	1,293	133	5,772
Iowa	1,035	17,935	105	1,254	300	84	2,073
Kansas	487	15,629	104	1,024	209	89	1,391
Kentucky	890	27,436	100	2,466	422	99	3,032
Louisiana	4,072	30,184	116	3,144	1,957	74	5,327
Maine	145	8,607	103	564	30	31	710
Maryland	3,974	33,620	118	3,403	1,459	126	6,028
Massachusetts	7,946	41,277	121	5,162	2,842	164	10,422
Michigan	5,923	63,148	114	6,104	2,880	242	9,384
Minnesota	1,731	27,177	108	1,987	483	121	3,355
Mississippi	2,097	20,824	116	2,410	1,053	54	3,507
Missouri	1,429	37,484	102	2,323	480	178	3,450
Montana	84	5,950	101	294	21	34	391
Nebraska	364	9,874	102	742	141	28	993
Nevada	1,098	16,250	109	1,743	830	41	2,052
New Hampshire	414	7,603	108	478	113	30	808
New Jersey	14,091	58,619	138	9,681	6,813	121	17,066
New Mexico	709	11,323	107	892	309	29	1,321
New York⁷	11,493	70,005	123	10,125	5,552	211	16,258
New York City	20,622	56,738	185	10,857	7,932	965	23,679
North Carolina	1,849	46,847	86	3,328	709	229	4,695
North Dakota	138	4,080	101	342	48	20	452
Ohio	3,512	72,289	103	4,758	1,476	262	7,055
Oklahoma	743	22,424	99	2,001	295	110	2,553
Oregon	390	21,129	101	1,014	133	65	1,335
Pennsylvania	7,839	82,328	106	6,547	2,801	245	11,826
Rhode Island	1,002	6,434	108	663	390	25	1,300
South Carolina	2,160	31,313	112	2,485	895	100	3,848
South Dakota	174	4,618	99	369	75	26	494
Tennessee	1,465	45,184	106	3,551	670	134	4,479
Texas	11,713	130,585	113	13,436	5,787	357	19,709
Utah	384	11,741	108	670	135	40	959
Vermont	59	3,420	104	170	14	16	231
Virginia	2,567	42,608	109	2,645	892	114	4,432
Washington	1,631	34,394	105	2,584	836	113	3,487
West Virginia	152	11,722	91	844	51	58	1,003
Wisconsin	1,059	32,188	107	1,605	190	150	2,622
Wyoming	30	2,731	106	165	–	–	195
Puerto Rico	308	14,463	86	1,819	177	64	2,012

NOTE: Number of deaths reported in this table are the total number of deaths received and coded as of the date of analysis and do not represent all deaths that occurred in that period.

Counts of deaths occurring before or after the reporting period are not included in the table.

*Data during this period are incomplete because of the lag in time between when the death occurred and when the death certificate is completed, submitted to NCHS and processed for reporting purposes.

This delay can range from 1 week to 8 weeks or more, depending on the jurisdiction and cause of death.

¹Deaths with confirmed or presumed COVID-19, coded to ICD–10 code U07.1.

²Percent of expected deaths is the number of deaths for all causes for this week in 2020 compared to the average number across the same week in 2017–2019.

³Counts of deaths involving pneumonia include pneumonia deaths that also involve COVID-19 and exclude pneumonia deaths involving influenza.

⁴Counts of deaths involving influenza include deaths with pneumonia or COVID-19 also listed as a cause of death.

⁵Deaths with confirmed or presumed COVID-19, pneumonia, or influenza, coded to ICD–10 codes U07.1 or J09-18.9.

⁶United States death count includes the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and New York City.

⁷Excludes New York City.

Understanding the Numbers: Provisional Death Counts and COVID-19

Provisional death counts deliver the most complete and accurate picture of lives lost to COVID-19. They are based on death certificates, which are the most reliable source of data and contain information not available anywhere else, including comorbid conditions, race and ethnicity, and place of death.

How it Works

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) uses incoming data from death certificates to produce provisional COVID-19 death counts. These include deaths occurring within the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

NCHS also provides summaries that examine deaths in specific categories and in greater geographic detail, such as deaths by county and by race and Hispanic origin.

COVID-19 deaths are identified using a new ICD–10 code. When COVID-19 is reported as a cause of death – or when it is listed as a “probable” or “presumed” cause — the death is coded as U07.1. This can include cases with or without laboratory confirmation.

Why These Numbers are Different

Provisional death counts may not match counts from other sources, such as media reports or numbers from county health departments. Counts by NCHS often track 1–2 weeks behind other data.

Death certificates take time to be completed. There are many steps to filling out and submitting a death certificate. Waiting for test results can create additional delays.
States report at different rates. Currently, 63% of all U.S. deaths are reported within 10 days of the date of death, but there is significant variation between states.
It takes extra time to code COVID-19 deaths. While 80% of deaths are electronically processed and coded by NCHS within minutes, most deaths from COVID-19 must be coded by a person, which takes an average of 7 days.
Other reporting systems use different definitions or methods for counting deaths.

Things to know about the data

Provisional counts are not final and are subject to change. Counts from previous weeks are continually revised as more records are received and processed.

Provisional data are not yet complete. Counts will not include all deaths that occurred during a given time period, especially for more recent periods. However, we can estimate how complete our numbers are by looking at the average number of deaths reported in previous years.

Death counts should not be compared across states. Some states report deaths on a daily basis, while other states report deaths weekly or monthly. State vital record reporting may also be affected or delayed by COVID-19 related response activities.

For more detailed technical information, visit the Provisional Death Counts for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Technical Notes page.

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