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Here’s how coronavirus compares to other causes of death in Florida

Preliminary COVID-19 data subject to change

Pallbearers wearing full PPE stand behind the grave of Benedict Somi Vilakasi during his funeral ceremony at the Nasrec Memorial Park outside Johannesburg Thursday, April 16, 2020. Vilakasi, a Soweto coffee shop manager, died of Covid-19 infection in a Johannesburg hospital Sunday April 12 2020. South Africa is under a strict five-week lockdown in a effort to fight the Coronavirus pandemic.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay) (Jerome Delay, Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

ORLANDO, Fla. – How does COVID-19 compare with other causes of death in Florida?

This interactive graphic, crafted by News 6 partner Florida Today, shows the leading causes of death in Florida in 2018, as averaged out over the entire year — and compares them against the daily tallies of COVID-19 deaths.

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It's not exact because for the purposes of comparison, the graphic takes the 2018 totals for leading causes of death and spreads them out uniformly throughout the entire year. The 2018 data is the most recent year available from the Florida Department of Health.

Heart disease topped all causes of death in Florida that year, with 46,929 (23%) of the 205,461 deaths. Cancer ranked second, with 45,199 deaths (22%), and strokes were the third leading cause, with 13,238 deaths (6.4%).

As of Wednesday, April 16, there were 633 COVID-19 deaths in Florida, including 32 deaths on Monday and 18 deaths on Tuesday.

FDOH says their COVID-19 data is preliminary and subject to change.

This is the best comparison available right now but, ultimately, a true comparison can’t be made until we have a full year of COVID-19 data.


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