A chart showing that COVID-19 and COVID-19 look-alike conditions were responsible for a bunch of deaths in April, but that the percentage of deaths caused by those conditions seems to have been falling since the week ending April 18. (Credit: CDC)

New death numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that the percentage of all U.S. deaths caused by COVID-19 is continuing to fall.

The CDC's latest weekly COVID-19 tracking report — which is based on state figures for deaths recorded by May 9 — show that confirmed cases of COVID-19 were responsible for 9% of the 26,479 deaths reported for the latest week, down from 14% in the week ending May 2.

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Resources

Getting tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, is notoriously difficult.

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Allison Bell

Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.