Injury-Related Emergency Medical Service Calls, Traffic Accidents, and Crime in Mexico City Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had detrimental impacts across multiple sectors of the Mexican health care system. The prehospital care system, however, remains largely under-studied. The first objective of this study was to calculate the monthly per capita rates of injury-related 9-1-1 calls, traffic accidents, and crime at the state-level (Mexico City) during the early pandemic period (January 1 through June 30, 2020), while the second objective was to conduct these calculations at the borough-level for the same outcomes and time period. The third objective was to compare monthly per capita rates of injury-related 9-1-1 calls, traffic accidents, and crime at the state-level (Mexico City) during the pre-pandemic (January 1 through June 30, 2019), early pandemic (January 1 through June 30, 2020), and later pandemic periods (January 1 through June 30, 2021). Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted to examine injury-related 9-1-1 calls, traffic accidents, and crime at the state-level (Mexico City) and borough-levels. Monthly per capita rates were calculated using four datasets, including Mexico City’s Public Release 9-1-1 Emergency Calls, National Institute of Statistics and Geography’s (INEGI) Traffic Accidents Micro-Dataset, Mexico City’s Attorney General’s Office Crime Dataset, and Projections of the Population of the Municipalities of Mexico, 2015 to 2030. All statistical analyses were conducted using STATA 17.0. Results: During the early pandemic period, injury-related 9-1-1 emergency calls, traffic accidents, and crime experienced similar trends in monthly per capita rates at the state-level and borough-levels. While the monthly per capita rates remained constant from January to March 2020, starting in March, there was a precipitous decrease across all three outcomes, although decline rates varied across boroughs. The monthly per capita rates across the three outcomes were higher during the pre-pandemic period compared to the early pandemic period. As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed, the monthly per capita rates during the later pandemic period increased across the three outcomes compared to the early pandemic period, although they did not reach pre-pandemic levels during the study period. Conclusion: The precipitous decline in injury-related 9-1-1 calls, traffic accidents, and crime in Mexico City occurred at the same time as the issuance of the first wave of public health orders in March 2020. The largest decrease across the three outcomes occurred one to two months post-issuance of the orders.