As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread throughout Cumberland County the death toll has risen to the level of the third leading cause of (health-related) death in the county.

From September 1, 2020, until September 1, 2021, there have been 145 COVID-19 or COVID-19 related deaths. For the year 2019 (the latest data available from the Tennessee Dept. of Health and prior to COVID-19) there were 202 deaths from heart disease in the county. That number has remained fairly consistent in recent years, rising slightly each year.  During the same year 2019, there were 184 deaths from cancer in the county.  As you can see from the TN Dept of Health chart, the next leading cause of death for 2019 was chronic lower respiratory disease-causing 48 deaths.  This puts COVID-19 related deaths ranking as the third leading cause of death in the county.  Currently, there have been a total of 153 COVID-19 related deaths in Cumberland County since the beginning of the pandemic appearing in the county early in 2020.  One major difference in the typical calculation of annual death rates in the county and COVID-19 calculations is age.  Before COVID, the death rate including heart disease and cancer especially was weighted with a higher age level.  In other words, deaths from heart disease and cancer had a higher percentage of the elderly. COVID deaths are spread all over the age scale from the young to the old. With the latest high number of active COVID cases, we can expect to see the death toll rise substantially over the next few months.  Cumberland County has recorded 102 more deaths from COVID thus far in 2021 than all of 2020.  Area hospitals are reporting that 80-90 percent of COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.  Doctors are informing us that the vaccine will not necessarily prevent one from getting COVID – but rather help prevent the more severe effects of the virus and very probably prevent death from the disease.