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. 2021 Oct;60(5):3230-3244.
doi: 10.1007/s10943-021-01307-5. Epub 2021 Jun 11.

Closed but Not Protected: Excess Deaths Among the Amish and Mennonites During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Rachel E Stein  1 , Katie E Corcoran  2 , Corey J Colyer  2 , Annette M Mackay  2 , Sara K Guthrie  2
Affiliations

Closed but Not Protected: Excess Deaths Among the Amish and Mennonites During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Rachel E Stein et al. J Relig Health. 2021 Oct.

Erratum in

Abstract

"Excess deaths" is a means to estimate the lethality of COVID-19 (directly and indirectly). Assessing "excess death" in closed religious communities provides information on how COVID-19 impacted these communities. We use obituary information published in an Amish/Mennonite newspaper to examine excess death among the Amish/Mennonites in 2020. Our results indicate the Amish/Mennonite excess death rates are similar to the national trends in the USA. The excess death rate for Amish/Mennonites spiked with a 125% increase in November 2020. The impact of COVID-19 on this closed religious community highlights the need to consider religion to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Keywords: Amish; COVID-19; Closed religious groups; Excess death.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Number of deaths by month and year
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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