Unhealthy Consequences of Pandemic Lockdowns

Lockdowns imposed by mayors and governors during the pandemic are fueling a health epidemic. While nearly 200,000 deaths are blamed on the virus, millions are suffering from drug overdoses, suicides, divorces, domestic violence and life-threatening risks associated with scrubbing elective surgeries.

It raises a legitimate question: Did experts at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),  health authorities and elected officials weigh the consequences of a quarantine to protect Americans from the virus against the ramifications of a protracted, enforced isolation on Americans health?" 

Just to be clear, quarantine-like edicts, endorsed by scientists, were necessary to staunch the spread of the virus in the earliest months of the outbreak.  However, the continuation of solitary confinement-like restrictions and social restraints elevate concerns for a plethora of residual health complications.  

A review of past statements and official pronouncements of health experts unearths evidence a few recognized the danger of extended shutdowns. For the most part, their warnings were unheeded. It is patently untrue to call the mushrooming health crisis a result of "unintended consequences."  

If health executives did not realize the complications, they are derelict in their duty to consider the inevitable problems with elongated lockdowns.  In every crisis, civic leaders and health officials must balance actions with their duty to protect every citizen.  It is essential to equitable solutions.

In the rush to free up hospital beds, elective surgeries were one of the first victims of the lockdowns.  Doctors will vouch that many procedures that were postponed were not optional.  Cancer patients and organ recipients were forced to wait. Their surgeries, inexplicably, were deemed non-critical.  

Breast cancer surgery, for example, was considered an elective procedure.  The American College of Surgeons supported this illogical decision.  Most Americans thought elective surgery meant face lifts or perhaps rotator cuff surgeries that could be delayed without serious consequences. They are wrong.

The World Economic Forum estimates 28 million elective surgeries were cancelled during the height of the epidemic.  The group's study found 38% of global cancer surgeries were postponed or cancelled. The backlog will take at least 45 weeks to clear, according to their calculations.

Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston analyzed 15 years worth of data on cancer treatment and survival rates.  As an example, the study showed even a 30-to-40 day delay in treatment significantly reduced the chances of survival for colon cancer patients.  

Delayed treatment is not the only cause for concern.  Americans with symptoms were avoiding preventive screenings and biopsies, raising the specter that their cancer would go undiagnosed, thus delaying treatment.  There are no statistics on Americans now facing long odds of survival due to the lockdown.

Surgery postponements could also be one contributor to a sharp increase in suicides and drug overdoses as people try to cope with the pain and anxiety.  Dr. Robert Redfield Jr., a virologist and a specialist at the CDC, presented evidence of the catastrophe during a medical conference on July 28. 

"We are seeing sadly far greater suicides than deaths from COVID," he lamented.  "We are seeing far greater deaths from drug overdose....than we are seeing the deaths from COVID." New data confirms drug overdoses have risen 18% nationally. 

The report was done by the Washington, D.C. based group the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program at the University of Baltimore.  In summary, the study reveals more than 60% of counties participating in the project reported increases in drug overdoses during the pandemic.

America's young adults have not been spared the anxiety of the long confinement.  A CDC report issued last month found 25.5% of adults between the ages of 18-24 reporting having "seriously considered suicide" due to the pandemic.  A total of 10.7% admitted having suicide ideas.

"Isolation, which is also disconnection from other people, will unravel us psychologically very quickly," said Dr. Kevin Gilliland, a clinical psychologist and director of an outpatient resource center.  "I think we have all been surprised by it." 

Calls surged 335%  from March through July to the U.S. government-funded Disaster Distress Helpline, which offers counseling and emotional support.  Help line counselors report callers expressed "feelings of isolation and interpersonal concerns" related to physical distancing and social confinement.  

No one should be shocked by the data.  In May, a group of 500 doctors wrote President Trump to raise awareness of the "short, medium and long-term harm to people's health with a continued shutdown." In the letter, the doctors described exactly the health problems now surfacing.

"The millions of casualties of a continued shutdown will be hiding in plain sight, but they will be called alcoholism, suicide, heart attack, stroke or kidney failure.  In youths, it will be called financial instability, unemployment, despair, drug addiction, unplanned pregnancies, poverty and abuse," they warned.

Suicide data is notoriously slow to collect nationally so it will likely be years before the country knows the extent of the fatalities.  

However, data exists on divorces.  Legal Templates, a firm that provides legal documents online, found a 34% increase in divorces compared to 2019.  An analysis shows marriages began to crumble as early as three weeks into the lockdown.  A majority (58%) were married less than five years.

A coalition of American attorneys had predicted the acceleration in divorces because of the extended quarantines, shaky finances, mounting unemployment, child care issues and mental health.  Their warnings fell on deaf ears in most quarters.

Likewise, the Center for Battered Women's Legal Services triggered alarms when it called on communities to expect an inflection in domestic violence with so many couples stuck at home.  The group predicted an increase in more violent abuse as the lockdowns wore on.

A United Nations report called abuse a "shadow pandemic" that went unnoticed.  Globally the number of abuse cases soared 20%.  That number may be understated for the U.S.  In one Colorado county, the group Rise Above Violence recorded a 51% increase in calls about abuse and a 25% hike in domestic violence.

As the case with most data, there is a long lag between the collecting and reporting of national figures on abuse, both among couples and child abuse.  By the time the truth emerges, most people will have forgotten how quarantines, lockdowns and forced isolation wrecked havoc on millions of lives.

A J.P Morgan Chase analysis suggests shutdowns failed to alter the course of the virus.  The report states: "Unlike rigorous testing of potential new drugs, lockdowns were administered with little consideration that they might not only cause economic devastation but potentially more deaths" than the virus.

Some reading these grim assessments may dismiss the impact as Monday Morning Quarterbacking or hindsight.  Even if you agree with that appraisal, there is ample proof many experts admonished officials of the impending health disaster.  Few listened and even fewer addressed the issues.

Others will insist the shutdowns were needed to save lives for the "greater good."  But don't all lives matter? How many life-years will be stolen from cancer patients, suicide victims, battered women and people in need of organ transplants? How many young people will develop mental health issues?   

The lesson for leaders and health officials is that consequences of decisions are not to be treated as inevitable.  Trade-offs are implicit in a health crisis, too, whether or not experts want to admit it.  It is a balancing act that demands a thorough analysis before guidelines and shutdowns are ordered. 

Mass Shootings Solutions: Facts Over Emotion

Mass shootings traumatize the American soul.  The nation's emotions run the gamut from sorrow to moral outrage to steely resolve to stop the killings.  But before the last ambulance departed the latest scene of a slaughter, politicians weaponized the crisis to wage war on guns and the president.

The belligerent rhetoric and ugly name-calling on both sides of the issue of gun rights conflates a complicated problem.  Before a solution can offer hope of halting violence, there must be a reckoning of the root causes driving often troubled young people (males) to commit wanton murders.

While it's natural for raw emotions to surface after such a tragedy, no one should use victims as political pawns in a legislative chess game to pass hastily thought-out laws.  Solutions require a close examination of the facts and a clear-eyed focus on keeping Americans as safe as possible.

Since guns are often seen as the culprit instead of the shooter, let's start with some firearm facts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Centers for Disease Control:

In 2017, the most recent statistics, there were 39,773 deaths by firearms, the highest annual total in decades.  You likely have read this headline in the news.  But do you know the reason for the hike? Sixty percent of gun deaths were self-inflicted.  Gun suicides are rising faster than firearm murders.

Yet no politician seems to care about the alarming rise of suicides.  Why are so many people killing themselves in a society with advantages few countries enjoy?  Why haven't we done more to find the answer?  Perhaps, it is because a single loss of life doesn't generate inflammatory political rhetoric.

In any massacre involving a rifle, the drumbeat for a ban on "assault" weapons is deafening.  Before entertaining this idea, politicians should consider that FBI data shows that five times more people are killed by "knives and cutting instruments" than rifles.  Should we consider outlawing knives?

Prior to plunging headlong into solutions, Congress needs more data on what motivates mass killings by young males.  The Parkland High School shooter was 19-years-old. The El Paso killer was 21.  The Dayton gunman was 24.  Unfortunately, not much data exists on young shooters.

However, a project funded by the National Institute of Justice, a research arm of the Justice Department, has been cataloguing the life histories of all mass shooters.  The work has produced a database of information going back to 1966 on every mass shooting in the United States.

The study found that the vast majority of mass shooters experienced early childhood trauma and exposure to violence at a young age.  That violence may have been physical or sexual abuse, parental suicide or severe bullying, often leading to depression, anxiety and other mental health issues.

In virtually every mass shooting there often is a trigger point, usually a identifiable crisis in the months and weeks leading up to the killing spree.  Another factor that motivates these heinous crimes is the perpetrators' fascination with the celebrityhood conferred by the media's coverage of shootings.

That's one reason mass shootings tend to come in clusters because the publicity often spurs others to act.  Their evil deeds are, if not celebrated, at least magnified on social media.  The prospect of notoriety in death appeals to young people who feel neglected, unimportant and isolated from society.

The mainstream media as well as the raw sewage posing as social media are never held accountable for their roles in contributing to the violence.  They hide behind freedom of the press but media platforms must be more responsible, reigning in their lurid coverage of shootings and the triggerman.

Studies such as the one cited earlier should serve as a starting point for dealing with the issue of mass shootings. Restricting or banning weapons will not end the killing if the nation fails to address the early warning signs of disturbing and often bellicose behavior of young males.

Turning to proposals, Pew Research found there are sharp divisions among Americans who identify as Republican or Democrat on gun policy.  However, there is some common ground among the groups.  That should be a starting point for Congress to make a bipartisan push for legislation.

There is near unanimous agreement that people with mental illnesses should be prevented from buying guns.  Most Americans concur that people on federal no-fly or watch lists should be barred from purchasing weapons.  Majorities favor background checks for sales at gun shows.

Although there general but not majority support for tightening background checks, there should be a way for politicians to hammer out a balanced approach that will make it less likely that someone unstable or emotionally disturbed with be able to legally acquire a firearm.

There is also budding support for so-called Red Flag laws that would allow local police or family members to petition a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present danger to himself or others.  Currently, 13 states have passed some form of Red Flag law.

After the temporary removal of the weapons(s),  there is a court hearing.  The gun owner is allowed an opportunity to appear in court and contest the order.  A judge decides if the weapon will be permanently confiscated or returned. This due process ensures a fair and open proceeding.

Despite these common sense suggestions, some politicians and special interest groups will champion laws banning firearm ownership.  If only, killings were that easy to stop.  Illinois and California have two of the country's strictest gun control regimes, but the results show little or no impact.

In fact, although Illinois and California are home to about 16 percent of the nation's population, those two states account for more than 20 percent of the nation's handgun murders, according to FBI data. Those figures offer a sober assessment about the effectiveness of stricter gun laws.

The bloodshed of mass shootings sickens every American.  But it is no excuse to turn the gun debate into a bloodsport marked by a focus on gaining political power.  Americans want solutions not a rancorous sideshow of grandstanding and finger-pointing.  Victims and their families deserve better.