'No Vaccine For Gun Violence' As Shootings Continue To Take Lives At Near-Record Pace In Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Here in Philadelphia, gun violence continues to take lives. Trauma centers in all parts of the city are stressed by the increase in gunshot victims.
"We have recognized for the longest time that gun violence is a public health crisis. So seeing COVID-19 and the increase in gun violence kind of side by side reinforces to us for sure that it is a public health crisis and we need to address it in the same way," said Dr. Amy Goldberg, surgeon-in-chief for Temple University Health System. "Thank goodness there are cures now for COVID-19, there's treatments, there are vaccines. No cure for gun violence, no vaccine for gun violence."
Last year, nearly 500 people were killed and more than 2,200 were shot in Philadelphia.
The only time more people were killed in the city was in 1990.