Many people were injured when they were standing next to windows watching the spectacle, not realizing the shock wave was on its way.
> ...about 1,500 people were injured seriously enough to seek medical treatment. All of the injuries were due to indirect effects rather than the meteor itself, mainly from broken glass from windows that were blown in when the shock wave arrived, minutes after the superbolide's flash.
I don't think this can be right. Surely it takes far less energy to vaporise a blanket than a whole person.
It might protect you from surface burns caused by the infrared pulse, though. And flying shards of glass.
The absolute best outcome would be lower burn rates in the outer rings of the heat zone.
But in a full exchange fallout levels would kill those people regardless, and even if fallout didn't, they'd still starve.
I've seen maps from the 1950s - before the huge warhead build-up - which showed most of the UK being reduced to desert by fallout.
In reality, in a full exchange the larger cities would be hit multiple times, so the short-term odds of survival for anyone within 10-15 miles of a large city would be essentially zero.
We learned from Hiroshima and Nagasaki that a very large proportion of deaths and the majority of injuries in a nuclear attack are caused by flying glass fragments and flash burns. The effects of both injuries are greatly exacerbated by the relative paucity of medical care - an injury that might be completely survivable in peacetime could prove fatal if medical care is unavailable.
People at the hypocenter would be killed instantly, but a far greater number of people at the edge of the blast radius could be protected by remarkably simple means. Covering yourself with coat or blanket could be the difference between being completely incinerated and surviving unharmed. Crouching under a desk offers remarkably good protection from falling and flying debris.