May 2020

By Joseph Neff, The Marshall Project, May 15, 2020 The grainy photo shows a social distancing nightmare in a California halfway house: 11 men lining up for a meal in a crowded room, serving themselves cafeteria style despite the coronavirus pandemic. Only two men appear to be wearing masks, but not the elderly man in the wheelchair at the center of the image. That photo, and others taken by residents, were filed as part of a federal lawsuit alleging that unsanitary and crowded conditions at...

By David Chiriboga, Juan Garay, Paulo Buss, et al., The Lancet, May 15, 2020 Widespread reports of disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among already vulnerable communities worldwide, from New York City to New Orleans and Chicago, to the shocking pictures of bodies lying in the streets in Ecuador, represent a prelude of the impact in low-income and middle-income countries, home to more than 80% of the world's population. Disadvantaged people are at higher risk of infection and...

The five stages of grief, as identified by Elisabeth Kubler Ross and David Kessler, are as follows: The five stages, denial , anger , bargaining , depression and acceptance are a part of the framework that makes up our learning to live with loss. They are tools to help us frame and identify what we may be feeling. Here are my own, personal, thoughts about the end of the school year and the Corona Virus Pandemic. Denial: What?? It's bad enough that we have to close schools? Can't we just keep...

By Diana Divecha, Greater Good Magazine, May 18, 2020 Massive unemployment. Stunning loss of life. Disrupted education. An economy in freefall. These are the ingredients for tectonic social shifts that alter the arcs of human lives. Parents are always at the fulcrum of such pressures, protecting their families while trying to hold together a semblance of normalcy. For 100 years, developmental scientists have studied how families and children respond to disasters, manmade and natural. From...

[Editor's note: Dr. Harise Stein at Stanford University edits a web site -- abuseresearch.info -- that focuses on the health effects of abuse, and includes research articles on ACEs. Every month, she's posting the summaries of the abstracts and links to research articles that address only ACEs. Thank you, Harise!! -- Jane Stevens] Williams AB, Smith ER, Trujillo MA, et. al. Common health problems in safety-net primary care: Modeling the roles of trauma history and mental health. J Clin...

By Heather Anne Harmon, MPH, May 13, 2020, Women's Mental Health. A recently published article in the American Journal of Public Health has attributed a substantial financial cost to untreated perinatal mood and anxiety disorders among mothers. The study, conducted by researchers with the think tank and public policy firm Mathematica, found that the cost of untreated perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) for the 2017 birth cohort totalled $14 billion USD, with an average cost of...

By Dayna Long, Medium, May 19, 2020 A consensus of scientific research demonstrates that cumulative adversity, especially when experienced during critical and sensitive periods of development, is a significant contributing factor to some of the most harmful, persistent, and expensive health challenges facing our nation. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are highly prevalent, experienced in all communities, and are likely to increase during the COVID-19 emergency [i] [ii] [iii] [iv] [v].

Dr. Amy Shekarchi, a pediatrician based in Los Angeles, CA, was helping to lead the rollout of ACEs screening among 50 health care providers at six clinics affiliated with the L.A. County Department of Health Services when the COVID-19 pandemic hit—days before she was set to launch the effort. “We had trained everybody in doing face-to-face [ACEs screening], and when COVID-19 happened we thought, let’s not throw the screening out. Everybody was ready,” says Shekarchi, who is the pediatric...

Below are three short videos created to help people successfully leave shelter in place and if employed, return to physical work conditions with support that fosters productivity. The video series is intended to expand knowledge and practices that improve our ability to manage stressful situations and emotions, especially increased anxiety and new triggers created by the corona virus. They have brief, basic knowledge intended for an audience with little or know education regarding the impact...

By James W. Dix III, Indianapolis Recorder, May 16, 2020 The entire world has been introduced to an invisible monster that has crippled our existence. The reported, unprecedented death tolls have been staggering with no foundational resolve near. In the midst of chaos, health care professionals continued to serve patience and uphold their professional creed. However, as the staggering number of deaths arise, in the shadows are emotionally wounded and traumatized health care professionals.

By Amine Souadka, Hajar Essangri, Amine Benkabbou, et al., EClinical Medicine, May 17, 2020 During the COVID-19 outbreak, healthcare professionals are exposed to a high-risk of infection and mental health problems, but also fear of contagion and spreading the virus to their families. In fact, considering them as individuals implies looking beyond their function as frontline responders and taking into account their societal role as parents, spouses and offspring. While work-family balance is...

By Beckie Strum, MarketWatch, May 18, 2020 Neighborhoods in southeast Queens as well as Brooklyn have the highest death rates from COVID-19 in the city, according to data New York City’s health department made public for the first time on Monday afternoon. The deaths by ZIP Code offer a new window into how the coronavirus has ripped through pockets of density and poverty , leaving a single community to mourn hundreds of deaths. The granular death counts also reinforce a clear pattern of...