Unchanged Fatality Rate on Austrian Ski Slopes during the COVID-19 Lockdown

Markus Posch, Johannes Burtscher, Gerhard Ruedl, Elena Pocecco and Martin Burtscher
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Markus Posch: Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Johannes Burtscher: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Lausanne, 1005 Lausanne, Switzerland
Gerhard Ruedl: Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Elena Pocecco: Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Martin Burtscher: Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-7

Abstract: Fatalities on ski slopes are very rare, with about one death per one million skier days. Whether the fatality rate is affected by substantial changes in the number of skier days and potentially associated alterations in the structure of the skier population is unknown. Thus, we compared the fatality rate on Austrian ski slopes in the winter season of 2020/21, when skiing activities were dramatically restricted during the COVID-19 lockdown, with those of the previous winter seasons. As a consequence of COVID-19 measures, the number of skier days dropped from over 50 million in previous years to 9.2 million skier days in the winter season of 2020/21. Still, the fatality rate (6.5 deaths/10 million skier days) was not different when compared to any of the seasons from 2011/12 to 2019/20. Despite the lack of international skiers and the reduction in skier days by more than 80%, the fatality rate remained surprisingly unchanged. The weather and snowfall conditions were on average comparable to those of previous winters, and, except for nationality, the composition of the skier population appears to have remained relatively unaltered. In conclusion, the fatality rate during downhill skiing is low and the absolute fatality numbers are primarily a function of the number of skier days.

Keywords: winter sports; trauma; sudden death; risk; mortality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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