CDC Director Compares Rate of Suicides to COVID-19 Deaths, by Micaela Burrow

By Micaela Burrow, Townhall, July 28, 2020

Editor’s Note: This piece has been updated to clarify that the CDC director was referring specifically to high school students when discussing the rate of suicides vs. COVID deaths.

Center for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield said in a Buck Institute webinar that suicides and drug overdoses have surpassed the death rate for COVID-19 among high school students. Redfield argued that lockdowns and lack of public schooling constituted a disproportionally negative impact on young peoples’ mental health.

“But there has been another cost that we’ve seen, particularly in high schools,” Redfield said. “We’re seeing, sadly, far greater suicides now than we are deaths from COVID. We’re seeing far greater deaths from drug overdose that are above excess that we had as background than we are seeing the deaths from COVID. So this is why I keep coming back for the overall social being of individuals, is let’s all work together and find out how we can find common ground to get these schools open in a way that people are comfortable and their safe.”  ….

Continue reading  >>>