COVID report finds suicide calls, overdose deaths and psychological sickness soared in D.C.

Suicide hotline calls, drug overdose deaths and psychological sickness complaints within the District of Columbia all went by way of the roof throughout COVID-19, a report has discovered.

Suicide calls to the D.C. Access Helpline shot up from a mean of 76 monthly earlier than the pandemic to 320 a month final June, in accordance with the April 20 report, which Georgetown University produced for the Office of the D.C. Auditor. The calls peaked at 565 in December 2020 and have since declined barely.

Overdose deaths rose by 78% and psychological well being diagnoses by 15% through the yr that COVID lockdowns began in March 2020, in accordance with proprietary Medicaid and metropolis information that the Georgetown researchers analyzed. In addition, telehealth visits for psychological well being companies rose by 97% from the earlier baseline.

Georgetown researchers Ellie Graeden, Hailey Robertson and Sharon Abramowitz stated the report reveals that telehealth companies — which remained elevated final June from pre-pandemic ranges — have turn out to be important for “meeting surging behavioral health needs” within the nation’s capital.

“Given the substantial demand for telehealth services among beneficiaries receiving behavioral health services, the District should continue supporting and expanding telehealth services for behavioral health,” they wrote, noting that the town’s Department of Health Care Finance in March 2020 expanded Medicaid protection for sufferers to see therapists nearly.

The report additionally urges D.C. officers to make telemedicine information publicly obtainable as a part of the well being statistics they report often.

During the peak of the pandemic, the report notes, the variety of obtainable beds in psychiatric hospitals dropped.

The report notes that metropolis residents are persevering with to cope with the “long-lasting effects” of COVID though restrictions and lockdowns have eased.