3 ms·
Mind that this is still very much a blurry picture. On the one hand, thanks to social distancing and masks, we've seen significantly fewer severe cases of flu,
by masswerk 5y ago
Mind that this is still very much a blurry picture. On the one hand, thanks to social distancing and masks, we've seen significantly fewer severe cases of flu, even to the point that some suggest that certain strains may have gone extinct. So these numbers would really reflect how much worse SARS COVID-2 is than last seasons' flu. On the other hand, there's also a number of deaths related to restricted access to health infrastructure and to habitual change, which is hard to account for. (E.g., I've read somewhere that the number of fatal car accidents in the US increased due to less traffic and higher average driving speeds, and there are probably many other indirectly correlated scenarios.) However, considering both, I think these numbers are still low.
- nradov 5y agoIn the US there was a 7% increase in traffic fatalities from 36,096 in 2019 to 38,680 in 2020. https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/2020-fatality-data-show-increased-traffic-fatalities-during-pandemic https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/2020-fatality-data-show...
- me_me_me 5y agoHow? This is very counter intuitive. My insurance halved this year because there was 60% less accidents in my country. During first few lockdowns there were almost no cars out on the road.
- nradov 5y ago"NHTSA’s analysis shows that the main behaviors that drove this increase include: impaired driving, speeding and failure to wear a seat belt.” Alcohol consumption increased during 2020. https://www.rand.org/news/press/2020/09/29.html https://www.rand.org/news/press/2020/09/29.html Less traffic meant that drivers could go faster.
- masswerk 5y agoI guess, this is closely related to US-specifcic car infrastructure. Look up the term "stroad". (It's also hard to reproduce, where I live.)