Health

Study: COVID-19 accounted for 62% of duty-related law enforcement deaths in 2020 – University at Buffalo

Published

2 years ago

June 6, 2022

BUFFALO, N.Y. — COVID-19 accounted for 62% of the 295 duty-related law enforcement deaths reported in 2020 to the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Fund database, which tracks law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty, according to a new University at Buffalo study.

The study, published last month in Policing: An International Journal, also found that COVID-19 accounted for 82% of deaths among Black members of law enforcement and 77% of deaths in Latinx officers, far higher than the 48% of deaths among white police officers.

These figures align with CDC data finding that race and ethnicity are risk markers for higher COVID-19 death rates, along with socioeconomic status, access to health care and exposure to the virus related to one’s occupation.

While the study looked specifically at COVID-19 deaths among members of law enforcement in 2020, there are important lessons for police and other first responder organizations going forward, said John Violanti, PhD, the study’s first author and research professor of epidemiology and environmental health in UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions.

It’s the first study to examine law enforcement deaths from COVID-19 on a national level, demonstrating the widespread risk from COVID that officers face in their work.

Moreover, Violanti says, COVID has proven to be another source of stress for an occupational group that already faces numerous stressors that affect job performance and overall health. (Gunshots, automobile crashes, and physical stress were among the leading causes of death among law enforcement other than COVID-19.)

“The study’s finding that the majority of law enforcement deaths in 2020 were from COVID-19 reveals the added danger that law enforcement face during this pandemic,” added Violanti, a retired New York State Trooper and expert in police stress.

“Law enforcement were continuously exposed to the disease and were mandated to assist others in prevention and cure. The study should prompt police and other organizations to make informed decisions about preparation for any future disease outbreaks,” he said.

COVID-19 also accounted for deaths among corrections officers, Violanti and co-authors from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported. Overcrowding in jails could be one possible explanation for COVID deaths among corrections officers given that incarcerated people are at higher risk for COVID-19 due to their proximity to one another, the researchers write. Another factor is the alarmingly high rate of corrections officers refusing to get vaccinated.

The majority of the law enforcement officers who died from COVID-19 were men (94%) over the age of 50 (61.6%) with more than 20 years of service (54%) and resided in Southern states.

In addition, the national rate of death due to COVID-19 — 12.8/100,000 officers — for law enforcement officers was higher compared to all other causes of death combined, at 8.0/100,000.

Given the complexity of personal exposures to COVID-19, the researchers point out that the percentage of COVID deaths attributed to duty may actually be higher or lower.

While this particular study looked only at law enforcement officers, the results suggest that other first responders, such as fire and EMT personnel, may also be disproportionately impacted, the researchers note.

“To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends that organizations implement multiple layers of controls including vaccinations, mask wearing, distancing, and increased ventilation in situations where police, first responders and other at-risk workers are more likely to be in prolonged, close contact with the public,” Violanti said.

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Health

The US is mailing Americans COVID tests again. Here’s how to get them

Published

2 hours ago

September 26, 2024

Anne Joseph

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans can once again order COVID-19 tests, without being charged, sent straight to their homes.

The U.S. government reopened the program on Thursday, allowing any household to order up to four at-home COVID nasal swab kits through the website, covidtests.gov. The tests will begin shipping, via the United States Postal Service, as soon as next week.

The website has been reopened on the heels of a summer COVID-19 virus wave and heading into the fall and winter respiratory virus season, with health officials urging Americans to get an updated COVID-19 booster and their yearly flu shot.

“Before you visit with your family and friends this holiday season, take a quick test and help keep them safe from COVID-19,” U.S. Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell said in a statement.

U.S. regulators approved an updated COVID-19 vaccine that is designed to combat the recent virus strains and, they hope, forthcoming winter ones, too. Vaccine uptake is waning, however. Most Americans have some immunity from prior infections or vaccinations, but under a quarter of U.S. adults took last fall’s COVID-19 shot.

Using the swab, people can detect current virus strains ahead of the fall and winter respiratory virus season and the holidays. Over-the-counter COVID-19 at-home tests typically cost around $11, as of last year. Insurers are no longer required to cover the cost of the tests.

Before using any existing at-home COVID-19 tests, you should check the expiration date. Many of the tests have been given an extended expiration from the date listed on the box. You can check on the Food and Drug Administration’s website to see if that’s the case for any of your remaining tests at home.

Since COVID-19 first began its spread in 2020, U.S. taxpayers have poured billions of dollars into developing and purchasing COVID-19 tests as well as vaccines. The Biden administration has given out 1.8 billion COVID-19 tests, including half distributed to households by mail. It’s unclear how many tests the government still has on hand.

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Health

Free COVID tests are back. Here’s how to order a test to your home

Published

2 hours ago

September 26, 2024

Anne Joseph

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans can once again order free COVID-19 tests sent straight to their homes.

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Health

Disability rights groups launching Charter challenge against MAID law

Published

2 hours ago

September 26, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – A coalition of disability rights groups says it is launching a Charter challenge against a part of Canada’s law on medical assistance in dying.

The group, which also includes two individual plaintiffs, argues that what’s known as track two of the MAID law has resulted in premature deaths.

Under the law, patients whose natural deaths are not reasonably foreseeable but whose condition leads to intolerable suffering can apply for a track-two assisted death.

The coalition says track two of the MAID law has had a direct effect on the lives of people with disabilities and argues medically assisted death should only be available to those whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable.

The executive vice-president of Inclusion Canada – which is part of the coalition – says there has been an alarming trend where people with disabilities are seeking assisted death due to social deprivation, poverty and a lack of essential supports.

Krista Carr says those individuals should instead be supported in order to live better lives.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.

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