Pneumonia, Influenza, and COVID-19 Fatalities Increased During Early October

The Atlanta-based U.S. CDC announced 'surveillance indicators tracking levels of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus circulation and associated illnesses have been increasing since September, as of Week #44, ending October 31, 2020. And, the percentage of fatalities due to pneumonia, influenza, and COVID-19 (PIC) increased during the first 2-weeks of October.

Based on death certificate data, the percentage of deaths attributed to PIC for week #44 was 8.1% and, which reflects a decline when compared to 11.8% reported during week #43.

Furthermore, 2,890,895 specimens were tested for SARS-CoV-2 for diagnostic purposes and 238,214 (8.2%) were positive during week #44.

In aggregate, there have been over 154 million coronavirus tests completed in the USA during 2020. Specifically, the state of California leads the USA with 18,813,961 completed tests, as of October 5, 2020.