All accidents: up during pandemic, not so far out of projected ranges, but significant.
Motor vehicle deaths: Lower during stay-at-home period (makes sense). But the increase in the summer=troubling.
Correlates with more DUIs, less seatbelt use, faster speeds, as per national data elsewhere.
Implies re-opening should be accompanies by more highway patrol.
All of the increases in these "external" causes of death are preventable.
They are also a small fraction compared to the excess deaths in the total population.
That said, it may be that for younger adults, drug and homicide deaths are a substantial % of excess deaths.
The answer to this: better access to substance use disorder treatment, more gun safety efforts, better patrolling of roads (and campaigns on vehicle safety).
“I said that if the virus was left to its own devices, it would cause a considerable degree of devastation because that’s what pandemic viruses do. However, I also said that there was an opposing force to that; and that opposing force is us.”
Let me be clear: I’m still going to work and I am protected...for the moment.
But if things continue to worsen, and I die because of this, I blame the weak federal response and incompetence in the face of our sustained pleas for adequate PPE.
Here’s a screenshot of the abstract present at #acep20. @TheSGEM