US Deaths in 2020 Top 3 Million, By Far Most Ever Counted

NEW YORK (AP) -- 2020 will go down as the deadliest year in U.S. history, with deaths topping 3 million for the first time.

It's due mainly to the coronavirus pandemic that has already killed more than 318,000 Americans, and counting.

Final mortality data for this year will not be available for months. But preliminary data suggest that the United States is on track to see more than 3.2 million deaths this year, or at least 400,000 more than in 2019.

The increase would be about 15%, and possibly more. As a percentage increase, that would mark the largest single-year jump since 1918.