New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said on Wednesday that Americans are going to grapple with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from the Chinese coronavirus, calling the pandemic a “trauma” on the country just one week after blaming the virus outbreak in New York on President Trump.
“COVID was a trauma for this country,” Cuomo said on Wednesday, likening it to “being at war.”
“I don’t know that we’ve even fully appreciated all of the effects of the trauma that we’ve gone through. There’s going to be PTSD from Covid,” the governor said.
Experts have warned of the effects not just of the virus itself but society’s response, including sweeping lockdowns that forced people into isolation and shuttered the economy, causing millions to lose their jobs over the summer as they remained in solitude.
Several studies raised concerns about the potentially devastating impact of lockdowns on people’s mental health, rather than the virus itself.
As Breitbart News detailed:
Researchers Mark Reger, Ph.D., and associates urged consideration of how the economic and emotional risk factors that accompany social distancing practices have an impact on those vulnerable to anxiety, depression, and even suicide risk.
The authors pointed out that economic recessions generally yield higher rates of suicide whenever they occur. The state, business, and school closures associated with the coronavirus, however, coupled with significant stock market losses, may all be contributing to a “perfect storm” that proves to be associated with higher rates of suicide in the United States in the future.
The study pointed to multiple byproducts of the social distancing practices, implemented to keep people physically safer, that may be associated with higher levels of mental health risks, including economic stress; social isolation; decreased access to religious communities; and national anxiety created by media coverage of the coronavirus.
Trump also issued the same concern at the start of the pandemic, telling reporters during a March briefing that “we can’t have the cure be worse than the problem.”
“We have to open our country because that causes problems that, in my opinion, could be far bigger problems,” he added.
Cuomo continued, calling the current situation a “profound transformational moment in society.”
“One of the lessons to me about COVID is it shows you how dangerous denial is. Well COVID, who would have known? Anyone who was paying attention would have known,” he said.
“Our calibration now between managing COVID and opening businesses, that’s an ongoing tension,” the governor continued, declaring that “we’re not yet at a point where we can get back to normal life.”
It was the European virus that came to New York. They missed it. They missed it. The China virus went to Europe. It got on a plane. It went to Europe. They never even thought of the possibility. And then 3 million Europeans got on the plane and came to New York. And they brought the virus. January, they brought the virus. February, they brought the virus. March, they brought the virus. And in mid-March, the federal government does a travel ban from Europe. Mid-March.
“Too little, too late, Mr. President. He caused the COVID outbreak in New York. Donald Trump,” Cuomo said.
On Wednesday, the governor announced that the infection rate in New York dipped below one percent.