Study: Strict mask, vaccine rules could have saved up to 250,000 lives

Between 118,000 and 248,000 more Americans would have survived the COVID-19 pandemic if all U.S. states had followed the mask requirements and vaccine mandates practiced in Northeastern states, a Journal of the American Medical Association study found. Five times as many deaths per capita occurred in Mississippi, the state with the weakest restrictions, compared with Massachusetts, a state with one of the most stringent restrictions. However, the study found efforts to socially isolate nursing home residents and close schools likely were more harmful than beneficial. The cross-sectional study used Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state-level mortality and population data for 2020 to 2022 compared with baseline data for 2017 to 2019. (JAMA Health Forum study, 7/26/24)