Reduced Mortality During Holidays and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Israel

Evidence suggests varied trends in mortality surrounding the holiday period. Most studies support an association between increased mortality rates and holidays. We compare the effect of the number of holiday days per week on the overall mortality rate in the Israeli population. Between 2000-2020, we see significantly reduced mortality rates in weeks containing national holidays. We observed the same trend in all-cause mortality during the 3-weeks COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. As the Israeli health care system, and hospitals especially, function near peak capacity year-round, we propose that reduced medical service utilization during holidays and the COVID-19 lockdown period might underlie the lower mortality rates.