Abstract
Lay persons and policy makers have speculated on how national differences in the imposition of social distancing to reduce SARS CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) infection has affected non-COVID-19 deaths. No rigorous estimation of the effect appears in the scholarly literature. We use time-series methods to compare non-COVID-19 deaths in Norway during its 9 weeks of mandated social distancing to those expected from history as well as from non-COVID-19 deaths in relatively less restricted Sweden. We estimate that 430 fewer Norwegians than expected died from causes other than COVID-19. We argue that failing to account for averted non-COVID-19 deaths will lead to an underestimate of the benefits of social distancing policies.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1021-1024 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | European Journal of Epidemiology |
Volume | 35 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2020 |
Keywords
- Non-Covid-19 Deaths
- Norway
- Social Distancing
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Epidemiology