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Mortality Surveillance During Winter Storm Uri, United States – 2021

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 November 2023

Arianna Hanchey Open the ORCID record for Arianna Hanchey [Opens in a new window] ,
Sumera Jiva Open the ORCID record for Sumera Jiva [Opens in a new window] ,
Tesfaye Bayleyegn Open the ORCID record for Tesfaye Bayleyegn [Opens in a new window]  and
Amy Schnall
Arianna Hanchey*
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice
Sumera Jiva
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice
Tesfaye Bayleyegn
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice
Amy Schnall
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice
*
Corresponding author: Arianna Hanchey; Email: KYE2@cdc.gov.
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Abstract

Objective:

On February 12, 2021, Winter Storm Uri hit the United States. To understand the disaster-related causes and circumstances of death, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) activated media mortality surveillance.

Methods:

The team searched the internet daily for key terms related to Uri and compiled the information into a standardized media mortality surveillance database to conduct descriptive statistics.

Results:

Between February 12 and March 2, 2021, the accessed media reported 136 Uri-related deaths from nine states. Most decedents were male (39%) and adults (62.5%). Exposure to extreme temperatures (47.1%) was the most common cause of death. Among indirect deaths, motor vehicle collision (12.5%), and carbon monoxide poisoning (7.4%) represented the top two circumstances.

Conclusion:

This was the first time CDC activated media mortality surveillance for a winter storm. Media mortality surveillance is useful in assessing the impact of a disaster and provides timely data for an all-hazards response approach.

Keywords

public health surveillancedisastersmediawinter storm
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 17 , 2023 , e530
Creative Commons
To the extent this work is subject to copyright outside of the United States, such copyright shall be assigned to The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology and licensed to the Publisher. Outside of the United States, the US Government retains a paidup, nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide licence to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public and display publicly the Contribution, and to permit others to do so. This is a work of the US Government and is not subject to copyright protection within the United States. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.
Copyright
© The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology, 2023.

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