Between March 2020 and April 2021 , there wereapproximately 550,000 deathsin the US from COVID-19 . That ’s a staggering telephone number of hoi polloi who might still be alive if not for the pandemic – but it ’s not the whole picture . There were also people alive who might otherwise not be : with schools fold , the US receive a March without school shootings for thefirst time in 18 years ; with businesses and workplace exclude down , the dozen or so yearly mass public shootings the country had amount to expectdisappeared .
It seemed like the prescribed statistic were lead off to affirm something that , to many , made nonrational sense : with society under lockdown and the population staying place , gun force would plummet . However , a new survey print today in the journalScientific Reportshas shown that in reality , the opposite was happening : gun violence rates soar by more than 30 percentage during the pandemic . In some states , like Minnesota , Michigan , and New York , the rate of gun fierceness more than doubled .
“ We found a hard association between the COVID-19 pandemic clip frame and an increase in gun violence in the U.S. compared to the pre - pandemic period , ” explains the field of study . “ While stay - at - home orders and social distancing measures are full of life to contain the spreadhead of COVID 19 , we also need to be aware of the unintended social and economic stressors that may lead to gun ferocity . ”
That ’s specially risky news when hospitals and health care system are stilloverwhelmedby the pandemic , the researcherspoint out . Resources like blood have been severely depleted by the pandemic – some hospitals reported get enough forone transfusion only per solar day , with surgeries were postponed nationwide – and ICU units and staff are already taken up by COVID-19 patient role .
“ We take I.C.U. beds , we need ventilators , we postulate personnel to care for the wave of Covid-19 patients . But gunshot victims are now fighting for space and resource inside America ’s overcrowded I.C.U.s,”wroteElinore Kaufman , a fellow in operative vital care and trauma surgery at the University of Pennsylvania back in April 2020 .
“ As our I.C.U.s fill up with patient role clamber to emit , we front around and ask : Can we economize a bottom , can we save two beds , for the gunfire victims we know are coming next ? Who can watch these ventilated patients if we have to call doctors to the operating elbow room to give a bridge player ? ”
Long queue outside accelerator storage became acommon sightthroughout 2020 , and today ’s study support that out : there was a “ significant step-up ” in the number of criminal background check carried out for gun purchases during the COVID-19 stay - at - home orders than during the same point one class earlier .
Although the authors do suggest this increase in firearm ownership as a possible reasonableness for the uptick in gun violence , anearlier studysuggested there wasno clear associationbetween the two , instead concluding the problem stemmed from “ other factors , like job deprivation , economical modification , the closure of shoal and community establishment and nonprofits , and civil tempestuousness . ”
Today ’s cogitation reaches a alike finis . The pandemic has created a “ substantial increase in the burden of depressive symptom in the U.S , ” the study explains , which could have led to more piece - related suicides . multitude have been force to detain away from family and friends , it add , which may have intensified psychological stress and depressive symptom .
“ The pandemic has concede harmful ripple effects that necessitate to be addressed , ” co - lead detective Paddy Ssentongo concluded in astatement . “ The spike in gas pedal violence in the earned run average of COVID-19 comes as a austere reminder that we ca n’t afford to ignore it any longer . Now is the time to focus on this public health crisis . ”
