ORANGE—University of California–Irvine (UCI) researchers led a study that shows that gunshot and knife wounds increased during the COVID-19 pandemic in Southern California, but injuries from traffic crashes were down. UCI Health researchers reviewed 20,450 trauma patients who were treated at 11 hospitals across seven counties. The study, which the researchers say is the first large-scale analysis of the stay-at-home orders on trauma treatment, was published online in the Journal of Trauma & Acute Care Surgery. “Our analysis identified a 21 percent increase in rates of penetrating trauma and a 24 percent increase in rates of gunshot wounds, but no significant increase in rates of suicide attempts or domestic violence that required trauma or critical care in the period after California’s stay-at-home order was issued in March 2020,” said UCI Dr. Jeffry Nahmias. Penetrating trauma is when a patient’s skin is pierced by an object such as a bullet or …