Modern Healthcare (5/29, Johnson, Subscription Publication) reported, “Experts fear the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s surveillance of COVID-19 cases and deaths among healthcare workers are under-counting the impact on the front lines, which could obscure the scope of the pandemic as it hits the front lines.” CDC numbers show “more than 63,000 healthcare workers have been infected with COVID-19 and 307 have died from the virus as of Friday.” However, “those figures are based on information received from a relatively small pool of test reports,” as “the vast majority of the data collected lacks key information about the occupational status of those getting tested for the coronavirus.”

Related Links:

— “CDC underestimates COVID’s toll on healthcare workers, experts say, “Steven Ross Johnson, Modern Healthcare, May 29, 2020

CNN (5/31, Lamotte) reports, “Witnessing acts of racism via video, radio or social media can produce fear, anger and outrage, but even those who don’t take to the streets can experience significant emotional distress.” According to experts, this is called “vicarious racism,” and people can be harmed without being the victim. Studies have shown “that race-related stress is a significantly more powerful risk factor for poor mental health than stressful life events.” This “can contribute to anxiety disorders and depression.”

Related Links:

— “Vicarious racism: You don’t have to be the target to be harmed, “Sandee LaMotte, CNN, May 31, 2020

Healio (5/28, Gramigna) reports researchers in Japan found “postpartum women were more likely to use fatal suicide attempt methods and have more distinct and serious psychopathology than pregnant women.” The findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Postpartum women at greater risk for fatal suicide attempt than pregnant women, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, May 28, 2020

USA Today (5/28, Dastagir) reports on the impact of black deaths on the African-American community. USA Today quotes experts discussing how the deaths of black people at the hands of police and from COVID-19 are taking a toll on the mental health of many black people in the US. For example, Dr. Danielle Jackson, a psychiatry resident and a board member of the American Psychiatric Association’s Caucus of Black Psychiatrists, said, “I can only describe the continued viewing of racial violence, torture, murder and disregard for the humanity of black bodies as repetitive trauma. Perpetrators of racial violence may have changed uniforms, speech, and coded message, but the message remains the same, ‘you – black person – are other, you are less than.’” Meanwhile, Dr. Roberto Montenegro, a chief fellow in psychiatry at Seattle Children’s Hospital who studies the impact of discrimination, “says living in a world where your body is a threat is painful and taxing.”

Related Links:

— “George Floyd video adds to trauma: ‘When is the last time you saw a white person killed online?’, “Alia E. Dastagir, USA TODAY, May 28, 2020

Psychiatric News (5/28) reports, “During a virtual Congressional briefing on Wednesday, APA President Jeffrey Geller, M.D., M.P.H., and members of APA’s Committee on Telepsychiatry emphasized the need for expanded access to mental health care through telehealth not only during the COVID-19 pandemic, but afterward as well.” The APA and the National Alliance on Mental Illness hosted the briefing titled, “Collective Crisis: Preparing for America’s Next Wave of Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Needs With Telehealth.” Peter Yellowlees, M.B.B.S., M.D., of UC Davis, and Shabana Khan, M.D., of NYU Langone Health, both of whom are members of APA’s Committee on Telepsychiatry, also spoke during the briefing sharing “stories about how the loosening of telehealth regulations have helped them reach more patients and continue care for others during the pandemic.”

Related Links:

— “Relaxed Telehealth Regulations Need to Continue Post Pandemic, Experts Tell Congressional Leaders, Psychiatric News, May 28, 2020