Study concludes U.S. coronavirus shutdown measures prevented 60 million additional infections

A person crosses the street on March 27, 2020 in New York City

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published 8 June 2020

Coronavirus lockdown measures put into place in six countries prevented more than 500 million additional COVID-19 infections, including tens of millions in the United States, a new study has concluded.

A study published in Nature on Monday and conducted by University of California at Berkeley researchers found that measures implemented to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the United States prevented 60 million infections up to April 6, The Washington Post reports.

The study looked at six countries and found that various shutdown policies and interventions prevented or delayed 530 million infections across the United States, China, South Korea, Italy, Iran, and France, though the researchers say 62 million of the additional infections would have actually been officially confirmed as cases through testing, including 4.8 million confirmed cases in the U.S. The United States has confirmed about 1.9 million COVID-19 cases.

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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.

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