Various medical matters – Loss of a local mayor – Suicide rates during and after pandemics – Potential increase of suicides due to long COVID – Evening statistics
It was another fine sunny winter day today, clear and bracing. Alas, I had to spend the greater part of it in doctors’ offices getting checkups, one to determine whether I needed cataract surgery and one to have a dermatologist do a routine examination for any suspicious moles, lesions, etc., that may indicate the advent of skin cancer. I do have the beginnings of cataract but, as it turns out, these have not advanced far enough to warrant surgery at this stage, which certainly is welcome news. The dermatologist, similarly, found nothing of concern. “You obviously go outdoors a lot,” he remarked during the course of his inspection, and I could not deny it. He did recommend that I wear a hat to guide myself against the sun rays – which, as it turns out, I generally do in the warmer months.
A local tragedy has occurred: Kevin Ward, the mayor of Hyattsville, has been found dead in Fort Marcy from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Up to the last day of his life, there were no hints that he was contemplating such a step. He was a popular mayor, well-liked by those who worked with him, such as the members of the city council, and also by mayors of neighboring municipalities. Condolences have poured in from, among others, Governor Hogan, the Prince Georges County Executive, various council members, the city’s emergency operations manager, the Upper Marlboro Mayor, and the Representative for Maryland’s Fourth District. He had served on the city council himself twice before becoming interim mayor upon the resignation of his predecessor in 2019, and was then elected mayor last year. He was only 44 years old and was the father of two adopted children.
Oddly enough, suicides have not increased dramatically during the pandemic. In general, suicide rates do not appear to go up during pandemics. For this particular one, the overall number of suicides in 2020 was 3% lower than in 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. Suicide rates were 2% lower for males and 8% lower for females in 2020.
It’s the period after the pandemic recedes that suicide rates tend to rise. The prevalence of “long COVID” may prove a significant factor in this regard as the pandemic recedes. Several sufferers from long COVID have already taken their own lives rather than drag out their remaining months in pain and debility. One prominent example is Heidi Ferrer, already mentioned in an earlier entry. She was a screenwriter for shows such as Dawson’s Creek and, in addition to having an extremely successful career, had an energetic, outgoing personality: her husband described her as “sunshine in a dress.” After she had officially “recovered” from a bout of COVID, she experienced racing heartbeat for no apparent reason, gastrointestinal issues, exhaustion from exertions as rudimentary as walking up a single flight of stairs, extreme body aches, brain fog, and numerous other ailments. “Watching long COVID systematically take her apart, organ system by organ system,” her husband wrote, “was the most terrifying deterioration of a human being I have ever witnessed.” It is currently unknown how prevalent long COVID is for the omicron variant, since it has emerged so recently. But if it follows the pattern of other variants, as many as a third of those who contract the disease may be so affected – in which case, there is the potential threat of many other sufferers taking the same option to terminate a cycle of unremitting torment.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 366,535,663; # of deaths worldwide: 5,655,929; # of cases U.S.: 74,695,333; # of deaths; U.S.: 902,140.