The article mentions controlling for this in numerous ways. It was looking at elective surgeries, as well as county wide mortality rates and not just a single h

The article mentions controlling for this in numerous ways. It was looking at elective surgeries, as well as county wide mortality rates and not just a single hospital. That said, in the elective surgery cases it could well be a spin on what you're mentioning and people just deferred their surgeries until after the strike. You'd think surely they also controlled for this, though.