Behavior Differences Led to High COVID Death Rate in U.S. South
Thousands of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. South could have been avoided if more people masked, social distanced, kept kids from school, and made other behavioral changes to reduce the spread of the virus, researchers say.
In other words, if they had acted more like folks up North.
The study authors suggested that if the entire United States had followed the lead of the Northeast in taking such measures, more than 316,000 COVID-19 deaths might have been prevented before Omicron became the dominant variant.
More than six in 10 of those potentially avoidable deaths were in the South, according to the team at Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies, in Washington, D.C.
More than six in 10 of those potentially avoidable deaths were in the South, according to the team at Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies, in Washington, D.C.
“Our study is the first to quantify avoidable deaths and confirm that both COVID-19 deaths and avoidable deaths disproportionately occurred in the South,” study co-author Michael Stoto said.
For the study, published online on April 28 in the journal PLOS ONE, the investigators analyzed U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data on excess deaths between Jan. 3, 2020, and Sept. 26, 2021. Excess deaths are the difference between the number of current deaths and deaths expected based on previous years in the United States.
During the study period, there were nearly 896,000 excess deaths nationwide associated with COVID-19. That’s 26% more than reported by other experts who track disease, the researchers said.
The official U.S. COVID-19 death toll was nearly 1 million deaths as of late April, but these findings suggest that the grim mark was actually passed at the beginning of 2022, according to the study authors.
The researchers also compared the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West and found that regional differences in COVID-19 death rates persisted throughout the study period.
Since the start of summer 2020, the South has had higher COVID-19 death rates than the rest of the United States. Since October 2020, the South had 48% of COVID-19 deaths in the country, even though it makes up 38% of the U.S. population.
“Our goal was to carefully examine regional differences in COVID-19 death rates based on reliable statistical data,” Stoto, a professor of health systems administration and population health, said in a university news release.
“This is one of a series of planned studies to look carefully at the response to COVID-19 in the U.S. and other countries, and to learn from the experience in order to strengthen preparedness for future potential outbreaks,” Stoto concluded.
The effect of environment on behavior
People behave differently depending on where they live, and it appears these differences affect mortality rates for certain illnesses. Experts have found a consistent correlation between geographical location and cancer death rates, with rural areas of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and other Southern states reporting high death rates from colorectal cancer (COVID). The reasons for higher death rates have not been clearly identified; however, researchers have noted that cultural practices affecting lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, stress, and substance abuse may play a part.
These findings are significant because many types of cancers can be prevented or controlled through behavioral modifications such as improved diet, tobacco cessation, and exercise. Increased knowledge regarding these behaviors could help to reduce mortality rate disparities between geographic regions of different states and increase overall national health status. Researchers also point out that future studies should consider exploring potential correlations between other diseases and regional behavior. If similar patterns are found in relation to diabetes, stroke, and heart disease, researchers might gain valuable insight into how behavior impacts illness incidence throughout America.
This information could prove beneficial in developing effective prevention programs based on cultural behavior and regional trends. More research is needed before any firm conclusions can be drawn about causes of death from COVID; however, data collected thus far has revealed intriguing links between environment and human behavior which will likely inform future medical advances regarding patient care across all demographic groups nationwide.
