Signs of a “second wave” of mental health and substance use disorders related to the coronavirus pandemic are apparent, according to an article published in the JAMA medical journal.
The three doctors who authored the piece — Naomi Simon, Glenn Saxe and Charles Marmar from New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine — said a “second wave of devastation” attributable to mental health consequences of COVID-19 is “imminent,” CNN reported Tuesday.
“The magnitude of this second wave is likely to overwhelm the already frayed mental health system, leading to access problems, particularly for the most vulnerable persons,” the doctors wrote.
The researchers suggested groups adversely affected by the first wave, such as Black and Latinos, older adults, low-income people and health care workers, will again be disproportionately affected.
As of Tuesday, roughly 38 million coronavirus cases and 1.1 million related deaths have been reported worldwide, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker. The U.S. leads the world in both categories with 7.8 million cases and 215,000 deaths.