By MIKE STOBBE | AP Medical Writer
NEW YORK — For every American killed by gunfire, an estimated two or more more survive, often with terrible injuries — a fact that public health experts say is crucial to understanding the full impact of guns on society.
A new government study highlights just how violent the recent past has been in America by showing a surge in people wounded by gunshots during the pandemic, when the number of people fatally shooting each other – and themselves — also increased.
During the first two years of the COVID-19 outbreak, the number of people injured by gunfire rose 40%, compared with 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a study published Thursday. In 2022, gun injuries tapered off, but were still 20% higher than before the pandemic.
Gun injuries rose similarly for men and women over the past three years, while the largest proportional increase occurred among children younger than 15, a subset that remains a small fraction of the overall problem.
Experts say the CDC gun injury study, which uses data from hospital emergency departments, helps provide a more comprehensive picture of gun violence in America than simply measuring homicides and suicides.
“Hospitals are a great place to keep the pulse on who is being shot, and when and where,” said Catherine Barber, a senior injury researcher at Harvard University’s school of public health.
The CDC study results came from more than 2,200 U.S. hospital emergency departments, which represent the bulk of the nation’s ERs, said Thomas Simon, one of the authors of the new study.
The study suggests that the number of gunshot-related ER visits at hospitals in the study rose from around 50,000 in 2019 to more than 72,000 in 2020. Because more than a quarter of U.S. hospital emergency departments were not involved in the study, the actual number is likely significantly higher.
Experts believe a variety of factors contributed to the pandemic surge in gun…
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