Strict mask, vaccine rules could have saved as many as 250K lives, says new study

Hill July 26, 2024
Saul Elbein

Stricter COVID-19 restrictions could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives in the states that refused to institute them, though efforts to close nursing homes and schools likely caused more harm than good, a new study has found.

Between 118,000 and 248,000 more Americans would have survived the pandemic if all states had followed some restrictions practiced in Northeastern states, according to findings published Friday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

The most effective responses were mask mandates and vaccine requirements, the JAMA study found.

“COVID-19 restrictions saved lives,” the researchers wrote.

“The death toll was probably considerably higher than it would otherwise have been in states that resisted imposing these restrictions, banned their use, or...

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