Reported Tuberculosis in the US, 2020

In a recently published report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Reported Tuberculosis in the United States, 2020, TB data from 2020 reveal a significant decline in the number of reported cases of TB disease in the United States. According to the CDC, the COVID-19 pandemic has likely affected reported TB incidence in the United States in several ways, including a combination of TB underdiagnoses and a true reduction in incidence. The CDC is conducting additional analyses to better understand how the 2020 TB data compare with previous years.

Top findings include:

• The reported number of TB cases in the United States declined from 8,904 in 2019 to 7,174 TB cases in 2020, a 19.4% decrease.
• The national TB incidence rate decreased from 2.7 cases per 100,000 persons in 2019 to 2.2 cases per 100,000 persons in 2020. Seven states and the District of Columbia reported TB disease incidence rates higher than the national average TB disease incidence rate.
• As in past years, cases of TB disease were not evenly distributed across the United States. Four states account for slightly more than half (50.3%) of all reported U.S. TB cases: California, Texas, New York (including New York City), and Florida.

In 2020, people from racial and ethnic minority groups and non-U.S. born persons continued to be disproportionately affected by TB disease in the United States; this salient finding underscores the continuing health disparities and inequities among people with TB disease.