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New study shows Michigan holiday shutdown saved lives

"Restaurant's 'Sorry we're Closed' sign" by Nick Papakyriazis is licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

The state health department’s “Pause to Save Lives” did exactly that, save lives.  That's according to a University of Michigan study.

Associate Professor of Epidemiology, Marisa Eisenberg says states with more stringent regulations, such as ending indoor dining at restaurants, helped stop the spread of COVID-19.

“What we found was that states that had a higher average government response index, which is this sort of measure of government action in response to COVID did better in terms of having lower total numbers of cases over the holiday season.”

The study estimates that regulations over the holiday season kept more than 100-thousand people from getting sick, and prevented 28-hundred deaths.