Based on a new analysis, the United States may have prevented about 250,000 COVID-19 deaths if all states had implemented the more restrictive mask and vaccine restrictions found in the Northeast throughout the peak of the pandemic.

Researchers believe that the nation, which experienced over 1.1 million Covid deaths, may have saved 118,000 to 248,000 additional lives.

Christopher J Ruhm, a political scientist and economics specialist at the University of Virginia, conducted research that was released on Friday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Health Forum. The study compared death rates from 2020 to 2022 to an earlier period from 2017 to 2019.

The results of these studies contradict the claims of individuals who oppose COVID-19 restrictions, who incorrectly assume the restrictions were ineffective,” Ruhm adds. To the contrary, several governments’ policies likely saved numerous lives.”

As per the report, if all states had implemented limitations equal to the ones in the ten least restrictive states, unnecessary deaths could be 10% to 21% less than the 1.18 million that took place over the two-year review period.

In contrast, the estimates predict counterfactual rises of 13% to 17% if all states had limitations comparable to the ones in the ten least-restrictive states.

Throughout the early stages of the pandemic, both red and blue states instituted public space shutdowns, masking laws, and additional pandemic policies, but jurisdictions soon varied as the pandemic progressed and the research on the coronavirus became politicized.

It resulted in significant differences. California schools, for instance, required instructors to be immunized or tested on a regular basis in the classroom by 2021, whereas Florida was considering removing funding from schools that imposed mask requirements. Ruhm’s data reveals comparable differences.

The higher mortality rate in Massachusetts, the state with the strictest Covid rules throughout the study period, was under one-fifth of that of Mississippi, the state with the most flexible guidelines.