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A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

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Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#51
post #29
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused by the downvotes on this. The comment is quoting CDC numbers, this is not some fake news report. The 0.4% mortality for coronavirus is the CDC best estimate. The 0.2% is from the CDC website for the 2017 flu season. Edit: The parent comment has apparently been flag removed. But it was claiming that the reaction to coronavirus (lockdown) is worse than the damage from the virus, and used the above comparis…

Nearly 100,000 people have died of COVID19 and there’s good evidence that this is a substantial undercount. All this in a context where we shut down transmission vectors (being indoors, with lots of people). Most estimates I’ve seen suggest we’ll hit 150k-200k deaths by end of year. 2017-2018 flu season killed about 80,000 with no mitigation efforts. Just on the face of it, this virus is far more than 2x deadlier tha…

> there’s good evidence that this is a substantial undercount.

I don’t know about the US, but most European countries count anyone who died with corona as a covid death. No matter how clearly you died to something else.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#52
post #13

The 'cure' of endless and pointless lockdowns is indeed proving worse than the disease, particularly when the CDC estimates overall mortality from the virus will be only 0.4%: https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/data-cd... For reference the seasonal flu is 0.2%, for which we do... precisely nothing.

I'm confused by the downvotes on this. The comment is quoting CDC numbers, this is not some fake news report. The 0.4% mortality for coronavirus is the CDC best estimate. The 0.2% is from the CDC website for the 2017 flu season. Edit: The parent comment has apparently been flag removed. But it was claiming that the reaction to coronavirus (lockdown) is worse than the damage from the virus, and used the above comparis…

The disclaimer is in the CDC link:

> The scenarios are intended to advance public health preparedness and planning. They are not predictions or estimates of the expected impact of COVID-19.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#53
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused by the downvotes on this. The comment is quoting CDC numbers, this is not some fake news report. The 0.4% mortality for coronavirus is the CDC best estimate. The 0.2% is from the CDC website for the 2017 flu season. Edit: The parent comment has apparently been flag removed. But it was claiming that the reaction to coronavirus (lockdown) is worse than the damage from the virus, and used the above comparis…

It seems pretty clear that the systemic effects of COVID-19 are much worse than those of seasonal flu. You don't see news of hospitals struggling to cope with seasonal flu the way we've seen now. You don't have Italian doctors triaging patients with the flu.

> You don't see news of hospitals struggling to cope with seasonal flu the way we've seen now.

You don't see this news because you aren't looking for it, Hospitals are struggling with influenza all the time. Example story:

> Hospitals Overwhelmed by Flu Patients Are Treating Them in Tents

https://time.com/5107984/hospitals-handling-burden-flu-patie...

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#54
post #43
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do think the CDC numbers seem strange - when I search for "flu IFR" and "coronavirus IFR" what I find for flu is 0.04-0.2% and for coronavirus it's more like 0.4-1%. So these CDC best estimates seem to make the comparison more favorable than the numbers found in other places. It seems like a factor 6 or so difference is realistic, which makes it quite a bit more serious than the flu. One thing that worries me more…

Sidebar, but I simply cannot figure out how the CDC estimates flu mortality. I've spent about an hour trying to find the info, and gave up. I was able to figure out how they estimate flu deaths: they take the officially diagnosed deaths, and the multiply it by a factor based on presumed deaths. For example, they assume some % of pneumonia deaths are cause by the flu. But I simply cannot figure out how they estimate t…

Doesn't this page answer all those questions? https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/how-cdc-estimates.htm

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#55
post #12

I've dealt with depression and anxiety for many years. I just want to tell anyone who happens to read this: it's ok to ask for help, it's ok to go to therapy, it's ok to use antidepressants. Find the tools that work for you and keep asking for help when you need it. (Believe me, I know how hard it is.)

Isn't antidepressants in America one of the reasons of the opioid crisis...?

I assume that's a genuine question and that you're not trolling.

Opioids are a very different class of drugs than anti depressants (including medication to treat anxiety).

While people with mental issues may use opioids for self medication, no reasonable psychiatrist would ever prescribe such medication for psychological issues.

Oxy and their ilk were massively pushed by Purdue and their "colleagues" as a non-addictive pain relief if applied correctly.

They lied, of course, and that's where the US is now with the opioid crisis, since those drugs were massively over-prescribed.

It can't be mentioned enough that if you have serious mental issues then appropriate medication may be one of the pillars to help you out of the deepest circles of hell.

While it maybe a crutch (sometimes temporary, sometimes long term) it can be immensely helpful if properly prescribed and monitored and seriously be the difference between life and death.

edit: slight clarification

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#56
post #12

I've dealt with depression and anxiety for many years. I just want to tell anyone who happens to read this: it's ok to ask for help, it's ok to go to therapy, it's ok to use antidepressants. Find the tools that work for you and keep asking for help when you need it. (Believe me, I know how hard it is.)

[deleted]

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#57
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused by the downvotes on this. The comment is quoting CDC numbers, this is not some fake news report. The 0.4% mortality for coronavirus is the CDC best estimate. The 0.2% is from the CDC website for the 2017 flu season. Edit: The parent comment has apparently been flag removed. But it was claiming that the reaction to coronavirus (lockdown) is worse than the damage from the virus, and used the above comparis…

It seems pretty clear that the systemic effects of COVID-19 are much worse than those of seasonal flu. You don't see news of hospitals struggling to cope with seasonal flu the way we've seen now. You don't have Italian doctors triaging patients with the flu.

You do actually see hospitals struggling with bad flu seasons occasionally. I’m not sure if it’s more or less then from covid.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#58

The 'cure' of endless and pointless lockdowns is indeed proving worse than the disease, particularly when the CDC estimates overall mortality from the virus will be only 0.4%: https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/data-cd... For reference the seasonal flu is 0.2%, for which we do... precisely nothing.

fortunately, more and more scientists and doctors are stepping up and being public about why all of this lockdown and social distancing thing is not only useless, but harmful. Unfortunately, not only they don't get much air time in mass media, as they end up being censored by YouTube. Makes you wonder why...

> Makes you wonder why...

Come out and tell us. I'd like to hear a broad summary of your position. I do suspect it's a trifle more conspiracy-leaning than you're currently making out. Ending with a dog-whistle like this rather amplifies that impression.

(I browse HN with showdead switched on which adds context to some comments that are easy to miss otherwise)

I think there's a valid debate to be had about mortality, unexpected consequences and over-reaction but the minute I start looking into that side of the argument I quickly get lost in the thickets of bizarre conspiracy theories and extremist views. And even short of the crazies - there is some terribly ingenuous cherry-picking of data (although admittedly both sides of the debate do this - as is sadly true with most public discourse)

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#59

The nation's been psychologically wrong-footed during an election year where the incumbent is the most controversial president in decades (one who's been impeached, even), the challenging party's primary process has been subjected to accusations of corruption and favoritism (at best) by the presumed nominee's opposition, and been riddled with suspicious errors. That alone would be a memorable storm and a half for our…

And there's a global pandemic on and people are stuck inside.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#60
post #32
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused by the downvotes on this. The comment is quoting CDC numbers, this is not some fake news report. The 0.4% mortality for coronavirus is the CDC best estimate. The 0.2% is from the CDC website for the 2017 flu season. Edit: The parent comment has apparently been flag removed. But it was claiming that the reaction to coronavirus (lockdown) is worse than the damage from the virus, and used the above comparis…

It's comparing 0.4% and 0.2% but not mentioning infectiousness (covid-19 appears more transmissible). 0.4% of a very large number will be considerably more people than 0.2% of a much smaller number. It says we do precisely nothing for flu and that's incorrect. We have internationally coordinated programmes of vaccine development and we have annual programmes to vaccinate as many vulnerable people and healthcare worke…

The flu infects an average of a billion people annually. That’s a big number.
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