More People Died From Suicide Than Coronavirus In Tennessee This Week
March 27, 2020 By Tristan Justice
Knox County, Tennessee saw nine deaths by suicide within 48 hours this week as doomsday predicitons over the novel Wuhan coronavirus panics an already axious public and leaves millions unemployed and isolated.
In Tennessee, the crisis is taking its toll on those who were not physically sick but who appear to have fallen victim to the virus anyway. As of this writing, more people have died from suicide in Knox County than people have from the virus in the entire state, where there have been 6 fatalities from the disease, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.
“That number is completely shocking and makes me wonder if what we are doing now is really the best approach,†said Knoxville, Tennessee Mayor Glenn Jacobs. “We have to determine how we can respond to COVID-19 in a way that keeps our economy intact, keeps people employed and empowers them with a feeling of hope and optimism – not desperation and despair.â€
While it is unclear at this point whether the recent suicides were directly linked to the epidemic of the spread virus, their timing alone is strongly indicative, if not proof that they were. According to local Knoxville news station WBIR, the county’s suicides over the span of two days this week equates to about 10 percent of last year’s total where 83 lives were lost to suicide.
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https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/27/more-people-died-from-suicide-than-coronavirus-in-tennessee-this-week/
