CLEVELAND — According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a non-profit organization dedicated to honoring America's fallen law enforcement officers, COVID-19 is the leading cause of death nationally among law enforcement officers for the past two years and the first quarter of this year.
In 2021, a total of 598 law enforcement officers died in the United States.
Ten were from Ohio.
Two died from gunfire, including Cleveland police officer Shane Bartek, who died New Year's Eve while off duty in a carjacking attempt.
One of Ohio's ten died in a car crash. One from an undisclosed, duty-related illness. The final six were victims of COVID-19.
According to the site, COVID-19 is responsible for the deaths of 422 of the 598 officers we lost nationally in 2021.
In 2020, the year the pandemic began, there were 410 law enforcement deaths including 269 from COVID-19. None of the four officer deaths in Ohio that year related to the pandemic.
In the first quarter of 2022, the nation lost 85 law enforcement officers, 50 from COVID.
Of the 1,093 officers who died since 2020, 741 succumbed to COVID-19, compared to 129 to gunfire and 123 to a vehicle related cause.
While COVID is still a huge risk to first responders, between '20 and '21, gunfire deaths jumped 32 percent nationally. Whether that's direct fallout from the pandemic is up for debate.
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