The Hill (5/6, Weixel) reports a bipartisan group of 90 lawmakers in the House along with several medical groups, including the APA, “are pushing for the inclusion of enhanced mental health resources for health workers in the next coronavirus aid package.” The bipartisan group “called for the establishment of a grant program within the Department of Health and Human Services to allow healthcare employers or facilities to confidentially assess and treat the mental health of healthcare workers on the front lines of treating COVID-19 patients.”

Related Links:

— “Lawmakers push for mental health funding for providers in next aid package, “Nathaniel Weixel, The Hill, May 6, 2020

The New York Times (5/5, Mandavilli) reports, “Two new studies offer compelling evidence that children can transmit the” coronavirus. In one study published in Science last week, researchers “found that children were about a third as susceptible to coronavirus infection as adults,” but that when schools were open, “children had about three times as many contacts as adults, and three times as many opportunities to become infected, essentially evening out their risk.” In a second study, awaiting peer review but posted on the lab’s website, German researchers “tested children and adults and found that children who test positive harbor just as much virus as adults do – sometimes more – and so, presumably, are just as infectious.”

Related Links:

— “New Studies Add to Evidence that Children May Transmit the Coronavirus, “Apoorva Mandavilli, The New York Times, May 6, 2020

Psychiatric News (5/5) reports that “in an article” published online April 30 as a special communication “in JAMA Psychiatry, leaders from the Departments of Mental Health and Addiction in Lombardy describe several lessons learned during the COVID-19 crisis and unknowns about the long-term mental health of the population.”

Related Links:

— “Lessons Learned From Italy: COVID-19 and Mental Health Services, Psychiatric News, May 5, 2020

Healio (5/4, Gramigna) reports, “Intimate partner violence remained prevalent among middle-aged and older women and was associated with morbidity in these populations,” investigators concluded in a study that included “4,481 women aged 45 years and older who were screened for past-year intimate partner violence in 13 Veterans Health Administration [VHA] outpatient clinics in 11 states between April 2014 and April 2016.” Researchers “used positive screening result for past-year intimate partner violence as the exposure,” while “mental and physical health conditions” were “identified using ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes from VHA medical record data, as well as VHA health services utilization identified using inpatient and outpatient VHA encounter data.” The findings were published online April 21 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Intimate partner violence prevalent among older women beyond guideline-recommended screening age, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, May 4, 2020

HealthDay (5/4, Preidt) reports LGBTQ people in the US military “are at higher risk for sexual harassment, sexual assault and stalking,” according to a study published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress. HealthDay adds “that sexual victimization can trigger mental health problems such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use and suicidal behavior, researchers say.”

Related Links:

— “Sexual Victimization Persists in U.S. Military for LGBTQs: Study, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, May 4, 2020