Really support
Independent journalism
Our mission is to provide unbiased, fact-based journalism that holds power accountable and exposes the truth.
Every donation counts, whether it’s $5 or $50.
Support us to deliver journalism without purpose.
About 250,000 deaths from COVID-19 could have been avoided if US states had adopted stricter mask-wearing and vaccination mandates like those seen in the Northeast at the height of the pandemic, according to a new study.
The researchers say the country More than 1.1 million coronavirus deathsan estimated 118,000 to 248,000 lives could have been saved.
of the study The paper, by Christopher J. Room, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Virginia, was published Friday. JAMA Health Forumanalyzed mortality data from 2020 to 2022 and compared it to the baseline from 2017 to 2019.
“The findings do not support the views of those who oppose COVID-19 countermeasures and mistakenly believe they have been ineffective,” Room wrote. “On the contrary, the set of policies some states have implemented probably saved many lives.”
“If all states had imposed similar restrictions to the 10 most restrictive states, we estimate that the number of excess deaths would have been 10% to 21% lower than the 1.18 million that actually occurred during the 2-year analysis period,” the study said.
“Conversely, if all states imposed restrictions similar to those of the 10 least restrictive states, estimates suggest an increase of 13% to 17%.”
At the beginning of the pandemic, Republican- and Democratic-leaning states alike implemented public space closures, mask mandates and other pandemic prevention measures, but as the pandemic continued, jurisdictions quickly diverged and the science about the coronavirus became politicized.
This created a shocking disparity. By 2021For example, California schools have mandated vaccinations for teachers and regular testing in classrooms, while Florida has threatened to withhold pay from schools that enforce mask mandates.
Ruhm’s data captures similar differences.
Massachusetts, which had the strictest COVID-19 restrictions during the study period, had a fifth of the excess deaths in Mississippi, which had the least restrictive restrictions.
As the U.S. works to combat the pandemic, lessons from the early days of the pandemic will surely be fresh in lawmakers’ minds. Avian flu outbreak Not just chicken farms and cattle farms COVID-19 infections surge in summer Wastewater data is also spiking nationwide, with the number of cases increasing.
