Citation

Ssentongo P, Ssentongo A, Heilbrunn ES, Chinchilli VM. Front. Public Health 2023; 11: e950475.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Frontiers Editorial Office)

DOI

10.3389/fpubh.2023.950475

PMID

36950096

PMCID

PMC10025286

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, gun violence (GV) rates in the United States (US) rose by 30%. We estimate the relative risk of GV in the US in the second year compared to the first year of the pandemic, in time and space.

METHODS: Daily police reports of gun-related injuries and deaths in the 50 states and the District of Columbia from March 1, 2020, to February 28, 2022, were obtained from the GV Archive. Generalized linear mixed-effects models in the form of Poisson regression analyses were utilized to estimate state-specific rates of GV.

RESULTS: Nationally, GV rates during the second year of the pandemic (March 1, 2021, through February 28, 2022) remained the same as that of the first year (March 1, 2020, through February 28, 2021) (Intensity Ratio = 0.996; 95% CI 0.98, 1.01; p = 0.53). Nevertheless, hotspots of GV were identified. Nine (18%) states registered a significantly higher risk of GV during the second year of the pandemic compared to the same period in the first year. In 10 (20%) states, the risk of GV during the second year of the pandemic was significantly lower compared to the same period in the first year.

CONCLUSION: GV risk in the US is heterogeneous. It continues to be a public health crisis, with 18% of the states demonstrating significantly higher GV rates during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the same timeframe 1 year prior.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Public Health; United States; Pandemics; COVID-19 pandemic; gun violence; United States/epidemiology; *COVID-19/epidemiology; *Gun Violence; District of Columbia; hotspots analyses; public health crisis