Births Increase 9 Months After Snowstorm
October 13, 2011 by UPI - United Press International, Inc.
ATLANTA, Oct. 13 (UPI) — Major hospitals in the Atlanta area are seeing an uptick in births, nine months after a major ice and snowstorm effectively shut down the Georgia city.
Doctors at Emory University Hospital Midtown, Northside Hospital and Piedmont Hospital all said early October births are up from the same time last year and University of Georgia demographer Doug Bachtel said the snowstorm, which shut down public transportation and left many without electricity for days, was likely the catalyst, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thursday.
“When the electricity goes out and you get iced in, boredom sets in. So you think, there’s nothing to do. One thing leads to another and nine months later, you see an increase in the birth rate,” Bachtel said. “Despite living in a technologically oriented world, we still live in the natural world.”
Doctors at Emory Midtown said 41 babies were delivered from Oct. 2 to Oct. 5, up from 32 babies delivered during the same time period in 2010.
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