CDC Says COVID-19 Is Not the Leading Cause of Death in the United States

Spokesperson says heart disease and cancer are the two leading causes

Ambulance staff prepare to transport a patient from the Life Care Center nursing home where some patients have died from COVID-19 in Kirkland, Wash., in a file photograph. Jason Redmod/AFP via Getty Images

Reports saying COVID-19 is the leading cause of death in the United States was disputed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which tracks such information.

“There are no data to support that theory,” Jeff Lancashire, a spokesperson for the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, told CNN on Friday.