Another Way COVID Kills

When we tally up the lives lost to the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, I doubt anyone will include the added deaths from motor vehicle crashes, but they are related nonetheless.

Here are Minnesota's deaths from the last half of March 2020, compared with the same time period in the previous five Marches:


As you can see, we were on a downward trend for deaths, but we've suddenly seen a doubling in the number. This is, in all likelihood, attributed to the drivers picking up speed as they feel safer on empty roads, possibly combined with the stress of the world's situation.

Maybe these deaths will balance out with or even be outweighed by decreases in deaths worldwide from fewer internal combustion cars on the road, lowered pollution because of closed factories, and fewer two-stroke engines in use. Who knows.