Health Experts Say Pandemic Could Lead to 154,000 Deaths of Despair Due to Substance Abuse, Suicide
Public health group Well Being Trust, in a new study published on May 8 (pdf), states that the COVID-19 outbreak could lead as many as 154,037 Americans to die additional deaths of despair.
Deaths of despair have been on the rise for the last decade, and in the context of COVID-19, deaths of despair should be seen as the epidemic within the pandemic, the study s executive summary said.
The authors of the report determined nine different scenarios for how the outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, could play out and impact Americans. They estimate that additional deaths of despair amid the pandemic could range from 27,644 which assumes a quick recovery and therefore the smallest impact on unemployment all the way up to 154,037. The worst-case scenario would be driven by a slow economic recovery and have the biggest impact on unemployment.