Zhang, X. and M.E. Warner (2021). “The Relationship Between Water Shutoffs and COVID Infections and Deaths,” Food and Water Watch Issue Brief, March 2021.
A nationwide water shuto moratorium might have saved more than 9,000 lives and prevented nearly half a million people from being infected with COVID-19 through the end of 2020. This study inds that in states with moratoria, the growth rates for COVID-19 infections and deaths were signi icantly lower. Had these shutoff protections been in place nationally, it might have reduced total COVID cases by 4.0 percent and COVID deaths by 5.5 percent in the 41 states without a full coverage of a moratorium over the period from April 17, 2020 to December 31, 2020. Existing water shuto protections have protected human health and helped slow the spread of novel coronavirus.
Subject: