Last month one of our members (Allan N. Williams, MPH, PhD) analyzed ADHS vital statistics data and developed our newest epidemiology report entitled: “How Do COVID-19 Death Rates Compare to the 15 Leading Causes of Death in Arizona?”
Not surprisingly, the report found that COVID-19 had been the leading cause of death in Arizona during the first 10 months of the pandemic (Nationally, it has been the 3rd third leading cause of death).
Last week he updated the data in the report using the 12-months of data since the pandemic began – comparing rates to all cause death rates for the last complete year for which data is available (2019).
You can in this chart that COVID death rates have been the leading cause of death in AZ during the pandemic, out-stripping both heart disease and cancer by a wide margin. This is not the case in most states and in the U.S. as a whole. For most states and the U.S., COVID is still behind cancer and heart diseases.
This sobering statistic highlights the deadly effect that failure to implement evidence based interventions has had in Arizona.
For a detailed review of the policy and operational failures of the last year you can read our summary report entitled THE 2020 COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN ARIZONA: THE YEAR IN REVIEW.
