Driving with COVID linked to higher crash risk
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Driving with a case of COVID raised the odds of having a car crash about as much as being at the legal threshold of DUI or running a red light, according to an analysis of pandemic-era public health and transportation records from seven states.
Why it matters: Even mild COVID infections can cause "brain fog" and other impairment, affecting a person's ability to concentrate, reason and solve problems.
- That's cause for warning people with COVID-19 that they should minimize driving, and even having states screen for long COVID at the time of license renewal, author Baran Erdik, a physician and professor at American Vision University, wrote in PLOS Global Public Health.
What they found: Driving while infected with COVID, as measured by a PCR lab test, brought a 25% increase in crash risk.
- That is comparable to the rates associated with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% — or the legal threshold for driving under the influence in many states.
- It's also consistent with odds linked to habitual speeding or running red lights.
- Being vaccinated didn't appear to deliver added protection against crashes. Some earlier studies that have linked vaccine hesitancy with a higher risk of accidents.
Between the lines: The increase in crash risk was driven by recent infections and not connected to long COVID rates.
- States that had extended mask mandates like Connecticut were found to have had prolonged periods of lower crash rates.
- The study drew on crash data from Texas, Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia and Washington state from 2020 to 2023 and federal COVID test and positivity rates.
The big picture: Multiple studies have examined the pandemic's effects on traffic safety. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety last year found dangerous behavior like speeding, not using seatbelts and impaired driving contributed to a rise in fatal crashes compared with pre-pandemic times.
- It concluded there was a 17% jump in traffic deaths (nearly 17,000 additional fatalities) between May 2020 and the end of 2022 than would have been expected under pre-pandemic trends.
- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has suggested that people who continued to drive during the pandemic may have engaged in riskier behavior, including speeding and not wearing seatbelts.
- While past analyses didn't directly attribute the rise in crashes and fatalities to COVID-19 beyond government-imposed "stay-at-home" orders, they may have correctly identified a trend without recognizing the role of the virus as a contributing factor, Erdik wrote.
He told Axios the U.S. typically doesn't require medical clearance for a driver's license, but that a questionnaire at the time of a renewal about whether a person had long COVID would be appropriate.
- The complicating factor is there's no "cure" for the condition, and that society is dependent on driving, he said.
