The Long Tail of COVID-19: Is US Health Care Ready for the Mental Health Crisis That Will Follow?
2 min read
Photo caption: Long after the pandemic is under control, Americans will still be dealing with the mental health impacts that will come in its wake. Photo credit: Xesai iStock Getty Images. Article by Arick Wierson. Worth – March 1, 2021.
Well after the pandemic finally subsides, the world will still be forced to grapple with the mental health crisis that will follow in its wake. Worth surveyed 13 U.S. leaders across health care, mental health and telehealth to get their perspective on what’s next.
It’s coming. Like a wave born far out at sea but inescapably headed towards the shoreline, health care experts are bracing for a surge in demand for mental health services stemming from COVID-19. In the wake of the pandemic comes a health crisis that America—and the world—will be grappling with far after the virus itself is under control. The grief of lives lost or upended, the trauma and stresses associated with an abrupt change in the way we live, the loneliness and sense of isolation that has affected so many, the anxiety of the unknown and the fear of what might be next—many experts are united in their conviction that it will all come cascading down onto a health care system already overburdened as a result of the coronavirus. The forthcoming mental health crisis will likely be something that this nation is still dealing with years from now; perhaps its impact will be shouldered by an entire generation of Americans for the rest of their years, much like how those who lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s carried its vestiges with them throughout their lives, hardened against the evanescent and transitory nature of prosperity itself. […]
