A Chart Showing How Long It Took For Coronavirus To Become The Leading Daily Cause Of Death In The US

Update, April 10th: Coronavirus is now the leading daily cause of death in the United States, and Dr. Danilychev's chart has been updated to show that growth.

Previously: Yesterday, news outlets reported that the number of people killed by COVID-19 has exceeded the death toll of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Nearly 3,000 people perished during 9/11, and currently, more than 4,000 people have died because of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to projections from the White House, that number will continue to rise and at least 100,000 Americans are likely to die from the virus.

To really understand how sharply the fatalities of the coronavirus have risen over the past few weeks, here's an animation by Dr. Maria Danilychev that looks at the number of lives taken by COVID-19 in March. In the chart, Danilychev compares the number of people killed by COVID-19 to the average number of deaths from the top 15 leading causes of death in the US. You can see here for a full-sized view of the animation:

The difference between March 1 to March 31 is stark: at the beginning of the month, the death toll of COVID-19 paled in comparison to causes such as lung obstruction and Parkinson's disease. Fast forward to the end of the month, when the number of deaths by COVID-19 was 748 on March 31, only trailing behind the two leading causes of death, heart disease and cancer, which claim the lives of 1,774 and 1,641 Americans on average every day, respectively.

Unfortunately, the number of coronavirus deaths are likely to continue to increase in the coming days, until the effects of social distancing are able to slow down the spread of the disease. And, as Elaine Godfrey notes at The Atlantic, the true toll of the disease might not be known for months or longer.

[Via Flourish]