COVID and Alzheimer’s pushed Sacramento County’s death rate to record heights in 2020

The death rate in Sacramento County jumped 11% last year, rising to levels not seen in at least 50 years, preliminary state data show. About 13,280 Sacramento County residents died in 2020, or 850 deaths per 100,000 residents.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publishes death rates by county going back to 1968. Between 1968 and 2019, Sacramento County’s annual death rate fluctuated between 680 and 790 deaths per 100,000 residents — but never rose above 800 deaths per 100,000 residents until last year.

About 860 Sacramento County residents died of COVID-19 last year, similar to the number of deaths from stroke. Only cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease claimed more lives in the county. (Another 600 or so Sacramento County residents died of COVID-19 in January and February of 2021.)

Deaths from Alzheimer’s also jumped sharply in Sacramento County. The isolation of shutdowns — as well as possible misclassification of some deaths actually caused by COVID-19 — has led the number of Alzheimer’s deaths to increase nationwide.