Reduction in trauma cases during booze bans

Groote Schuur Hospital trauma surgeons and Medical Research Council researchers have provided some answers on the effect of the alcohol bans using records from the hospital’s trauma unit between February and June last year.

It treats patients from the western part of Cape Town.

The study allowed comparison between February to March (pre-lockdown), April to May (hard lockdown) and June, when liquor sales were resumed – although not over weekends and not for on-site consumption.

The average number of trauma patients decreased by 53% during hard lockdown, but returned to pre-lockdown levels in June.

The authors analysed two categories of patients seen in trauma units: those injured in road accidents and those who had suffered violent trauma.

The latter group was far larger and remained constant at 38% of trauma cases across the three periods. The former comprised 16% initially, fell to 9% during hard lockdown and rose again to 11% in June.

The number of victims of violent trauma halved during the hard lockdown, but returned to pre-lockdown levels as soon as alcohol sales resumed in June, when people were allowed out of their homes.

There were three main causes of injury in this category: gunshot wounds, stabbing wounds and those from blunt instruments or no instrument, as is common in domestic violence cases.

Gunshot injuries had only a moderate reduction of 15% during hard lockdown, but the others more than halved.

In June, these two categories reverted to 84% of their pre-lockdown levels, while gunshot injuries soared to levels 80% greater than pre-lockdown.

The reduction in road traffic injuries was attributable to fewer drivers on the roads and to those who were on the road being less likely to be over the alcohol limit.

In re-banning alcohol sales, government clearly hoped that both road injuries and violent trauma would fall again. By all accounts this has happened, allowing redistribution of doctors, ward space and other resources to Covid-19 patients.

The authors conceded that the reduction in violent crime during hard lockdown was probably not due only to the alcohol ban, but also to people staying home and high-visibility policing.

Gender-based violence was not specifically investigated in this study.