Suicide vs. COVID

If they are suicidal with plans they need to go to the local ER.

disgusted at what I see wrote:

I always knew people in general were not well holistically speaking prior to the pandemic, but I think one of the many things this pandemic has revealed is how lacking in common sense the average person is. I'm not a COVID denier by any means, but this fear mongering has gone way too far.

Definitely. Look at you. Instead of doing the common sense thing and doing some safe course of action, you ignore it because it doesn't match your political views. Total lack of common sense. But if common sense was remotely common, we wouldn't need half the laws we have.

We have been hearing about increases in suicides since the start. So far it hasn't shown up in any stats. Last I saw the national average was actually down by a nonsignificant amount. The armed forces had like a 10 person increase that got a lot of press but it was hard to tell if that was a continuation of a trend, covid, or just random noise (i.e. we are talking small sample sizes here)

The news media and social media - Twitter, in particular - has turned people into fascist monsters. There is still hope, but people need to realize that the Internet and cable news are not real life. You can get help from a doctor, you can go for a run, you can talk to your neighbor. If you have not already, safely create a social pod with people whom you trust. This is extremely helpful during this hard time. Most importantly? Get off of social media.

disgusted at what I see wrote:

I think it's fair to say that this person is on the verge of self harm or suicide.

I think at this point, knowing the low chance of death from COVID, if the alternative is almost certain death from suicide, the solution here would be for this person to get out with some people as soon as possible.

I admittedly didn't read the reddit post, but it seems like you made some leaps of logic. Suffering from depression and anxiety and being on the verge of self harm or suicide are in the same family, but there has no information provided to help us get from having some mental health issues to "the alternative is almost certain death." It feels like you are pushing a narrative.

In any event, for those who are suffering from mental health challenges, I don't think all that many people are truly suggesting fully self-isolating. The advice that is generally being given is that you should wear a mask, avoid indoor gatherings with large groups, keep your bubble small. That leaves plenty of options for people to engage socially, not just virtually, but in person. Meet a friend for a walk or coffee or a beer outside. Dine outside. If you are in a cold climate, visit close family members or friends who are also being judicious in their interactions and do that while wearing a mask and staying reasonably far apart. Perhaps have multiple short visits per week if you are going to be forced indoors. In short, we are being presented with a false dichotomy of "strict quarantining" and "going about life as if nothing has happened." There is plenty of room in between those two extremes.

^ Yes to this. The other issue is that health services are getting overwhelmed and unable to provide routine care in some areas. They aren't treating Covid over other diseases - what would not giving care look like - deny life-saving care? What about the staff numbers that are decimated in some areas? The way out of this is to get the numbers down. Doctors, nurses, hospital staff are not disposable. But they are very, very stretched and that knock on effect will be seen in other areas - waiting times, emergency treatment, routine treatment. And I am pretty sure they would rather be dealing with anything but Covid right now.

I was reading LRC just now, and there was a thread about reading Reddit and a person on Reddit who somehow "had virtually no meaningful human to human interaction for 10 months." It's unclear what is behind that seeming exaggeration. In any case, the Reddit person with no human interaction for 10 months was apparently contemplating suicide.

The really perverse part of this story, however, is that the LRC poster relaying this information seems to have done nothing to help the Reddit poster, but rather decided to switch browser tabs to LRC's message board, and draft a post with a somewhat subtle political theme in the guise of caring about the Reddit poster. All in all, a pretty weird, if not disgusting attempt to make a political point regarding Covid "lockdowns" that could have been more easily made without the exaggerated (if not fake) story about some Reddit poster that the LRC poster could give two rats about.

I'm not a COVID believer by any means, but this fear mongering has gone way too far.

Show Empathy wrote:

The news media and social media - Twitter, in particular - has turned people into fascist monsters. There is still hope, but people need to realize that the Internet and cable news are not real life. You can get help from a doctor, you can go for a run, you can talk to your neighbor. If you have not already, safely create a social pod with people whom you trust. This is extremely helpful during this hard time. Most importantly? Get off of social media.

And don’t consume main stream media “news”. The leftists have an agenda and Covid is simply a tool for them. Distrust everything out of their fascist mouths.

In summary from the Left and their spokespeople via CNN, the science doesn't indicate that Covid19 has caused an increase in suicides so it must be true.

Left brainded wrote:

In summary from the Left and their spokespeople via CNN, the science doesn't indicate that Covid19 has caused an increase in suicides so it must be true.

In summary from "Left brained," I have no evidence that Covid19 has caused an increase in suicides, but I'll decide to believe that there is anyway and then accuse the Left of being misled by the media, because I'm unaware of concepts like hypocrisy, irony and self-parody.

Even more disgusted than you wrote:

Left brainded wrote:

In summary from the Left and their spokespeople via CNN, the science doesn't indicate that Covid19 has caused an increase in suicides so it must be true.

In summary from "Left brained," I have no evidence that Covid19 has caused an increase in suicides, but I'll decide to believe that there is anyway and then accuse the Left of being misled by the media, because I'm unaware of concepts like hypocrisy, irony and self-parody.

In summary from the Right, the Left can't stand to be told that they are wrong about anything, nor will ever admit it. This is one of the reasons we don't like you and are very resistant to comply to anything you ask. #resist

wutt wrote:

If they are suicidal with plans they need to go to the local ER.

How can you say that. That would be a death sentence! He would only have a 99.997% chance of survival if he caught Covid. Shame on you. The big threat is COVID 19. DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE BALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

People need someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for. Covid has robbed many people of all three.

Left brainded wrote:

In summary from the Left and their spokespeople via CNN, the science doesn't indicate that Covid19 has caused an increase in suicides so it must be true.

If there is no empirical support for a position other than anecdotes, why would we assume that position to be true? The most recent data on suicide rates that is readily available via a Google search dates back to data from 2018. The data did show increasing suicide rates, continuing what seems to have been a trend. But there is no data readily available for the 2020 calendar year, so not only do we have no basis for knowing if there are actually more suicides this year, but we also don't know if any increases would be a continuation of the existing increasing trend or if they are the result of depression arising out of Covid.

I am willing to factor in the impact of suicides on the overall health of the country, but I would expect to be able to told whether or not there is an actual increase in suicides and how that increase compares to existing trends as a prerequisite to undertaking that exercise.

What am I missing?

Get out with some people as soon as possible vs a certain suicide is a false dichotomy.

But trolls gonna troll.

Left brainded wrote:

Even more disgusted than you wrote:

In summary from "Left brained," I have no evidence that Covid19 has caused an increase in suicides, but I'll decide to believe that there is anyway and then accuse the Left of being misled by the media, because I'm unaware of concepts like hypocrisy, irony and self-parody.

In summary from the Right, the Left can't stand to be told that they are wrong about anything, nor will ever admit it. This is one of the reasons we don't like you and are very resistant to comply to anything you ask. #resist

In summary from "Left Brained," whoooosh.