The death toll of the
COVID-19 pandemic MESHD has been unprecedented, due to both the high number of
SARS-CoV-2 infections MESHD SARS-CoV-2 infections MESHD and the seriousness of the disease resulting from these infections. Here, we present mortality rates and case fatality rates for
COVID-19 MESHD over the past year compared with other historic leading causes of
death MESHD in the United States. Among the risk categories considered,
COVID-19 MESHD is the third leading cause of
death MESHD for individuals 40 years old and over, with an overall annual mortality rate of 325
deaths MESHD per 100K individuals, behind only
cancer MESHD (385 deaths per 100K individuals) and
heart disease MESHD (412 deaths per 100K individuals). In addition, for individuals 40 years old and over, the case fatality rate for
COVID-19 MESHD is greater than the case fatality rate for motor vehicle accidents. In particular, for the age group 40-49, the relative case fatality rate of
COVID-19 MESHD is 1.5 fold (95% CI: [1.3, 1.7]) that of a motor vehicle accident, demonstrating that
SARS-CoV-2 infection MESHD may be significantly more dangerous than a car crash for this age group. For older adults,
COVID-19 MESHD is even more dangerous, and the relative case fatality rate of
COVID-19 MESHD is 29.4 fold (95% CI: [23.2, 35.7]) that of a motor vehicle accident for individuals over 80 years old. On the other hand, motor vehicle accidents have a 4.5 fold (95% CI: [3.9, 5.1]) greater relative case fatality rate compared to
COVID-19 MESHD for the age group of 20-29 years. These results highlight the severity of the
COVID-19 pandemic MESHD especially for adults above 40 years of age and underscore the need for large-scale preventative measures to mitigate risks for these populations. Given that FDA-authorized
COVID-19 MESHD vaccines have now been validated by multiple studies for their outstanding real-world effectiveness and safety, vaccination of all individuals who are over 40 years of age is one of the most pressing public health priorities of our time.