Doctors in the San Francisco Bay Area of California are reporting higher death totals from suicides, as a result of the lockdown orders, than from the coronavirus itself, as reported by Fox News.
One example is Walnut Creek, 25 miles outside of San Francisco, where doctors at the John Muir Medical Center confirming more suicide deaths than coronavirus deaths in the area.
One trauma nurse at John Muir, Kacey Hansen, confirmed in a statement to the press that many of the suicide victims are younger people depressed about losing their jobs or unable to find work. “They intend to die,” Hansen said, adding that while “sometimes people will make what we call a ‘gesture,’” simply seeking attention, “we’re seeing something a little different than that right now.”
Dr. Mike deBoisblanc of the Walnut Creek hospital, which serves patients in Contra Costa County, said that the hospital had seen “a year’s worth of suicide attempts in the last four weeks.”
California remains one of the last few states in the country that is still mostly locked-down, even as coronavirus cases nationwide have been consistently on the decline. Most Republican officials, including President Trump, have warned that a continued lockdown and economic standstill could prove far more devastating than the virus, while some Democratic governors in states such as California, New York, New Jersey, and Michigan, seem determined to keep their states locked down indefinitely.