Higher COVID-19 death rates in the southern U.S. due to behavior differences, study finds

During the pre-Omicron phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, regions of the U.S. had markedly different mortality rates, primarily due to differences in mask use, school attendance, social distancing, and other behaviors. Had the entire country reacted to the pandemic as the Northeast region, more than 316,000 deaths might have been avoided, 62 percent of those avoidable deaths being in the South, according to a new study.