COVID-19 Third Leading Cause of US Deaths in 2020 After Heart Disease, Cancer: Report

People walk past flags flying at half at the Washington Monument in memory of 500,000 deaths due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Washington, on Feb. 24, 2021. Joshua Roberts/Reuters

The COVID-19 mortality rate made it the third leading cause of death in the United States in 2020 after heart disease and cancer, according to a government report released on Wednesday.

COVID-19 was the primary or contributing cause of 377,883 deaths in the United States last year, with a particularly high toll among the elderly, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analysis found..