Move over lung disease! COVID-19 just became the third leading cause of death in the United States.
Just behind heart disease and cancer, the United State’s third-biggest killer is the coronavirus, followed loosely by accidents, lung disease, and Alzheimer’s. According to CNN, the United States has averaged more than 1,000 COVID-19 deaths a day for the past three weeks. Last week alone, Americans were eight times more likely than Europeans to die of COVID-19.
This all comes around the time school is starting back up again. Although many schools have been striving for a return to modified in-person classes, many places have had to adjust plans after a spike in coronavirus cases.
For example, one of the Georgia public school districts I wrote about earlier this month had to quarantine 925 students, faculty, and staff after an outbreak following the return to in-person class. According to NPR, Cherokee County School District also had to temporarily close one of its high schools in an attempt to get the virus under control.
Similarly, colleges like the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are seeing huge COVID-19 outbreaks after returning to in-person class. According to CBS News, UNC is switching to virtual classes after 130 COVID-19 infections were confirmed.
With schools opening across the country and COVID continuing to spread like wildfire, we’ll see if it stays at number three.
Header image by Martin Lopez from Pexels
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