Statistics of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

The CDC publishes official numbers of COVID-19 cases in the United States. The CDC estimates that, between February 2020 and September 2021, only 1 in 1.3 COVID-19 deaths were attributed to COVID-19.^[2] The true COVID-19 death toll in the United States would therefore be higher than official reports, as modeled by a paper published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas.^[3] One way to estimate COVID-19 deaths that includes unconfirmed cases is to use the excess mortality, which is the overall number of deaths that exceed what would normally be expected.^[4] From March 1, 2020, through the end of 2020, there were 522,368 excess deaths in the United States, or 22.9% more deaths than would have been expected in that time period.^[5]

In February 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, a shortage of tests made it impossible to confirm all possible COVID-19 cases^[6] and resulting deaths, so the early numbers were likely undercounts.^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]

The following numbers are based on CDC data, which is incomplete.

^ COVID-19 Deaths per 100K. U.S. News & World Report. Run your cursor over the map to see the dates and data for each state. "The data on this page is courtesy of USAFacts – a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic initiative – and includes information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local health departments. See a detailed methodology at the USAFacts website."
^ "Cases, Data, and Surveillance". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. February 11, 2020. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
^ Iuliano, A. Danielle; Chang, Howard H.; Patel, Neha N.; Threlkel, Ryan; Kniss, Krista; Reich, Jeremy; Steele, Molly; Hall, Aron J.; Fry, Alicia M.; Reed, Carrie (July 13, 2021). "Estimating Under-recognized COVID-19 Deaths, United States, March 2020-May 2021 using an Excess Mortality Modelling Approach". The Lancet Regional Health – Americas. 1: 100019. doi:10.1016/j.lana.2021.100019. ISSN 2667-193X. PMC 8275579. PMID 34386789.
^ "Excess Deaths Associated with COVID-19". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—National Center for Health Statistics. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
^ Woolf, Steven H.; Chapman, Derek A.; Sabo, Roy T. (April 2, 2021). "Excess Deaths From COVID-19 and Other Causes in the US, March 1, 2020, to January 2, 2021". JAMA. 325 (17): 1786–1789. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.5199. PMC 8019132. PMID 33797550. S2CID 232763669.
^
Multiple sources:
- Eastwood, Joel; Overberg, Paul; Barry, Rob (April 4, 2020). "Why We Don't Know How Many Americans Are Infected With Coronavirus—and Might Never Know". The Wall Street Journal.
- "Lack of testing clouds virus picture on the North Coast | Coronavirus". The Astorian. April 8, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
- Bosman, Julie (April 11, 2020). "Official Counts Understate the U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll—The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
- "US coronavirus map: Tracking the United States outbreak". USA Today. January 28, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
- Roberts, Jeff J. (April 3, 2020). "Can the private sector provide better coronavirus data? Experts are skeptical". Fortune. Retrieved April 10, 2020. Confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. crossed 200,000 on Thursday, but experts agree the actual number of infected people is much higher. The lack of reliable data—a persistent problem since the pandemic began—has made it impossible to determine the actual size of the outbreak, hampering the U.S. response.
- Myer, Robinson; Madrigal, Alexis (April 16, 2020). "A New Statistic Reveals Why America's COVID-19 Numbers Are Flat". The Atlantic. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
^ Kliff, Sarah; Bosman, Julie (April 5, 2020). "Official Counts Understate the U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll". The New York Times. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
^ Abdelmalek, Mark; Margolin, Josh; Katersky, Aaron; David, Eden (April 7, 2020). "Coronavirus death toll in US likely worse than numbers say". ABC News. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
^ Brown, Emma; Reinhard, Beth; Davis, Aaron C. (April 5, 2020). "Coronavirus death toll: Americans are almost certainly dying of covid-19 but being left out of the official count". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
^ Swan, Jonathan; Baker, Sam (May 6, 2020). "Trump and some top aides question the accuracy of virus death toll". Axios.

[USmap-1] COVID-19 Deaths per 100K. U.S. News & World Report. Run your cursor over the map to see the dates and data for each state. "The data on this page is courtesy of USAFacts – a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic initiative – and includes information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local health departments. See a detailed methodology at the USAFacts website."

[2] "Cases, Data, and Surveillance". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. February 11, 2020. Retrieved December 19, 2021.

[3] Iuliano, A. Danielle; Chang, Howard H.; Patel, Neha N.; Threlkel, Ryan; Kniss, Krista; Reich, Jeremy; Steele, Molly; Hall, Aron J.; Fry, Alicia M.; Reed, Carrie (July 13, 2021). "Estimating Under-recognized COVID-19 Deaths, United States, March 2020-May 2021 using an Excess Mortality Modelling Approach". The Lancet Regional Health – Americas. 1: 100019. doi:10.1016/j.lana.2021.100019. ISSN 2667-193X. PMC 8275579. PMID 34386789.

[4] "Excess Deaths Associated with COVID-19". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—National Center for Health Statistics. Retrieved July 21, 2020.

[5] Woolf, Steven H.; Chapman, Derek A.; Sabo, Roy T. (April 2, 2021). "Excess Deaths From COVID-19 and Other Causes in the US, March 1, 2020, to January 2, 2021". JAMA. 325 (17): 1786–1789. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.5199. PMC 8019132. PMID 33797550. S2CID 232763669.

[6] Multiple sources:
Eastwood, Joel; Overberg, Paul; Barry, Rob (April 4, 2020). "Why We Don't Know How Many Americans Are Infected With Coronavirus—and Might Never Know". The Wall Street Journal.
"Lack of testing clouds virus picture on the North Coast | Coronavirus". The Astorian. April 8, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
Bosman, Julie (April 11, 2020). "Official Counts Understate the U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll—The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
"US coronavirus map: Tracking the United States outbreak". USA Today. January 28, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
Roberts, Jeff J. (April 3, 2020). "Can the private sector provide better coronavirus data? Experts are skeptical". Fortune. Retrieved April 10, 2020. Confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. crossed 200,000 on Thursday, but experts agree the actual number of infected people is much higher. The lack of reliable data—a persistent problem since the pandemic began—has made it impossible to determine the actual size of the outbreak, hampering the U.S. response.
Myer, Robinson; Madrigal, Alexis (April 16, 2020). "A New Statistic Reveals Why America's COVID-19 Numbers Are Flat". The Atlantic. Retrieved April 19, 2020.

[7] Eastwood, Joel; Overberg, Paul; Barry, Rob (April 4, 2020). "Why We Don't Know How Many Americans Are Infected With Coronavirus—and Might Never Know". The Wall Street Journal.

[8] "Lack of testing clouds virus picture on the North Coast | Coronavirus". The Astorian. April 8, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2020.

[9] Bosman, Julie (April 11, 2020). "Official Counts Understate the U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll—The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved April 27, 2020.

[10] "US coronavirus map: Tracking the United States outbreak". USA Today. January 28, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2020.

[11] Roberts, Jeff J. (April 3, 2020). "Can the private sector provide better coronavirus data? Experts are skeptical". Fortune. Retrieved April 10, 2020. Confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. crossed 200,000 on Thursday, but experts agree the actual number of infected people is much higher. The lack of reliable data—a persistent problem since the pandemic began—has made it impossible to determine the actual size of the outbreak, hampering the U.S. response.

[12] Myer, Robinson; Madrigal, Alexis (April 16, 2020). "A New Statistic Reveals Why America's COVID-19 Numbers Are Flat". The Atlantic. Retrieved April 19, 2020.

[Kliff+Bosman-7] Kliff, Sarah; Bosman, Julie (April 5, 2020). "Official Counts Understate the U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll". The New York Times. Retrieved April 5, 2020.

[8] Abdelmalek, Mark; Margolin, Josh; Katersky, Aaron; David, Eden (April 7, 2020). "Coronavirus death toll in US likely worse than numbers say". ABC News. Retrieved April 10, 2020.

[9] Brown, Emma; Reinhard, Beth; Davis, Aaron C. (April 5, 2020). "Coronavirus death toll: Americans are almost certainly dying of covid-19 but being left out of the official count". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 10, 2020.

[10] Swan, Jonathan; Baker, Sam (May 6, 2020). "Trump and some top aides question the accuracy of virus death toll". Axios.

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