COVID-19 likely the third-leading cause of deaths in 2020

From 2010 through 2019, the Isabella County Clerk’s Office processed on average of 535 death certificates a year. The highest number was in 2018, when it processed 549; the lowest was 420 in 2010. The number was less than 500 in six of those nine years.

In 2020, the office processed 603.

According to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, 48 of those deaths listed COVID-19 as at least one cause of death, 25 in just one month.

That was December. Across Isabella, Gratiot and Clare counties, 86 people died that month and had COVID-19 listed as a cause of death. It

was the COVID-19’S deadliest month across mid-michigan.

Going into December, 23 people had died from COVID-19 in Isabella County. That number was 48 by the end of the month. In Gratiot and Clare counties, the pattern was the same. Gratiot ended November with 40 COVID-19 deaths; 44 died from it in December. Clare ended November with 26 COVID-19 deaths; 21 died from it in December.

COVID-19 deaths tripled in all three counties in November and December.

Across the state, 2,884 people died with COVID-19 on their death certificates. COVID-19 was the leading cause of death in December. It exceeded heart disease (1,676) and cancer (1,360). COVID-19 was also Michigan’s leading cause of death in April, when 3,442 people died from it.

By the end of the year, state records show that 48 people died from COVID-19 in Isabella County, 84 in Gratiot County and 47 in Clare County. That is very likely to result in the disease being the third-leading cause of death in those counties for 2020.

While cause of death data isn’t available at the county level for 2019 or 2020, historical data is available from 2018 and before.

Heart disease and all forms of cancer are the first two causes of death every year from 2009-18.

An average of 124 people died from heart disease and 105 died from all forms of cancer in Isabella County during that time. In Clare County, an average of 111 people died from heart disease and 97 from cancer.

It’s possible that in Gratiot County, more people will have died from COVID-19 in 2020 than died from cancer. There, an average of 86 people died of cancer during those years. In five of those years, the number of people who died from cancer is equal to or less than the number of people who died from COVID-19. An average of 135 people died from heart disease.

The third and fourth causes of death are respiratory disease and stroke.

Respiratory diseases killed an average of 30 people in Isabella County, 31 in Gratiot County and 32 in Clare County. Strokes killed an average of 27 people in Isabella County, 23 in Gratiot County and 19 in Clare County.

Flu and pneumonia, which COVID-19 was commonly compared to, killed an average of eight people a year in Isabella County, and seven each in Gratiot and Clare counties.

Statewide data shows it will likely go down at the third-leading killer in Michigan in 2020. It’s also expected to be the thirdleading killer in the United States.