While the overall mortality rates — the number of deaths per 100,000 people — during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic were higher in the United States compared to Canada, a new study at the University of Missouri finds some surprising similarities in mortality rates between certain U.S. states and Canadian provinces.

The findings offer a more nuanced look at the effectiveness of public health strategies like masking and social distancing before vaccines were widely available, and the findings can help inform public health response strategies at the state and local level to combat future pandemics or infectious diseases.

Tyler Myroniuk, an assistant professor in the MU College of Health Sciences, and his team compared trends in COVID-19 mortality rates between U.S. states and Canadian provinces from January 2020 to November 2020.

“Before the vaccines became available, the only mitigation strategies we had were things like masking and social distancing, and deaths are the ultimate marker of a health care system,” Dr. Myroniuk said. “The federal governments of both the U.S. and Canada gave autonomy to individual states and provinces to make their own health care decisions regarding mitigation strategies, and we found some surprisingly similar trends between certain U.S. states and Canadian provinces that many would not expect.”

Read the full story on Show Me Mizzou.

Myroniuk recently discussed this research on InFocus News through WSIU Public Radio. Listen to his full interview on the WSIU website.