AUSTIN, Texas — Coronavirus may not be the biggest cause of death in Travis County, but it is definitely rising the ranks.
Austin Public Health on Friday said that, based on vital records data from 2019, COVID-19 deaths have now surpassed cerebrovascular diseases, which include strokes, to become the fourth-leading cause of death in Travis County.
In 2018, cerebrovascular diseases caused 337 deaths in the area. As of Aug. 20, there have been 346 deaths related to COVID-19 in Austin-Travis County. Accidents (512), heart disease (1,092) and cancer (1,229) comprised the top three leading causes of death in 2018.
“When we look at our death data, we see that COVID-19 is a leading cause of death locally, statewide, and nationally,” said APH Director Stephanie Hayden. “We have hit an unfortunate milestone in our community.”
Other leading causes of death in Austin-Travis County were:
- Alzheimer disease (227)
- Chronic lower respiratory diseases (263)
- Intentional self-harm [suicide] (157)
- Diabetes mellitus (141)
- Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (129)
- Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis (100)
- Parkinson disease (99)
- Septicemia [sepsis] (99)
- Influenza and pneumonia (91)
- Pneumonitis due to solids and liquids [lung inflammation] (64)
- Essential hypertension and hypertensive renal disease (42)
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“We present these numbers to remind our community of the vast spread of misinformation around COVID-19,” said Dr. Mark Escott, Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority. “If we do not take this virus seriously in our community, we have the real possibility that every family will know someone who was hospitalized or who has died from COVID-19.”
Across the state in 2018, the top four leading causes of death were heart disease, cancer, stroke and chronic respiratory disease. Across the nation in 2017, the top four were heart disease, cancer, accidents and chronic respiratory disease.
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