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The Recount

8 Dec, 8 tweets, 3 min read

Well, it’s almost winter. The sun sets at 5 p.m. It’s month 9 of the pandemic, which has created anxiety and probably caused you to stay home a lot more than you normally would.

So let’s get real: It’s not a great time for mental health.

Americans’ assessment of their mental health is worse than any point in the last two decades.

Nearly every group polled — the young and old, women and men, Democrats and Republicans — report declines from 2019.
news.gallup.com/poll/327311/am…

The CDC found that 2 in 5 U.S. residents are actively struggling with their mental health due to COVID — whether anxiety, depression, substance abuse, or suicidal thoughts.

The reported rate of suicidal thoughts in particular was double that of 2018.
jamanetwork.com/channels/healt…

Our daily patterns have been disrupted. Isolation is the new norm. With a lack of U.S. leadership, we’re left to constantly assess the safety of every action.

This has led to “decision fatigue” — low willpower from constantly making COVID-related choices.
usatoday.com/story/news/nat…

And if you’re not caring for others, living alone in lockdown can be uniquely crushing.

Australia undertook some of the strictest lockdown measures in the world to curb COVID — and it worked. But people who live alone faced weeks of near-total isolation.
theguardian.com/australia-news…

There is an upside to an online world: Getting mental health counseling has never been easier — even opening the door for those without health insurance, typically a barrier to treatment.

And the pros think the boom in online therapy may be here to stay. time.com/5883704/teleth…

The long and short of it is this: Everyone is struggling.

Whether you’re dealing with decision fatigue, caring for a sick relative, or battling worsening symptoms of an underlying mental illness, you are not alone.

mhanational.org/covid19

https://twitter.com/mcguirewood/status/1336399830940221441

Just going to drop this here too

https://twitter.com/mcguirewood/status/1336399830940221441

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More from @therecount

The Recount

@therecount

8 Dec

Rep. Louie Gohmert’s tooth just fell out at his press conference.

We're not saying this is related. But Louie Gohmert did have COVID.
nytimes.com/2020/11/26/hea…

Never forget when Kevin McCarthy called Louie Gohmert "Congressman COVID"

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The Recount

@therecount

4 Dec

2020’s been a hell of a year — and a year of hell. Our attention has been fixated on the pandemic and partisan politics.

But another crisis has been unfolding right before our eyes: Countless climate nightmares have become reality.

https://twitter.com/ScottDuncanWX/status/1333808323012026372

2020 was the hottest year recorded in history, with extreme temperatures charted worldwide.

Read this whole thread from meteorologist Scott Duncan and prepare to be astonished:

https://twitter.com/ScottDuncanWX/status/1333808323012026372

It’s December, and California is literally on fire: The Bond Fire, exacerbated by Santa Ana winds, is spreading uncontrollably.

Californians must now make a dystopian choice: evacuate due to the flames or abide by the state’s COVID stay-at-home order.
latimes.com/california/sto…

Read 8 tweets

The Recount

@therecount

3 Dec

We've talked a lot about how prisons are COVID hotbeds. So as the U.S. moves closer to a cure, here's a question worth considering:

Should inmates be given priority access to COVID-19 vaccines? A thread 👇
nytimes.com/2020/11/30/hea…

Incarcerated individuals are *four times* more likely to be infected with COVID than the general public.

So far, 200,000 inmates have already tested positive — and at least 1,450 have died.
themarshallproject.org/2020/05/01/a-s…

In the debate over who should receive the first vaccine doses, prison inmates don’t even rank among the top tiers of federal criteria.

You know who does? Correctional officers who work in those prisons, considered essential workers.

Read 7 tweets

The Recount

@therecount

1 Dec

It’s well-known the COVID death toll in America bears disproportionately on people of color.

Now, a jarring report shows nearly a third of the nurses who have died from COVID are Filipino — though Filipinos account for only 4% of nurses nationwide.
cnn.com/2020/11/24/hea…

Filipino nurses migrated to the U.S. after WWII to fill a demand for health care workers.

During its colonial rule, the U.S. set up an Americanized nursing curriculum in the Philippines — and it’s been the leading exporter of nurses to America ever since.
news.berkeley.edu/2019/05/28/fil…

So why the shocking death toll? Let’s start with the inequitable distribution of Filipinos across health care.

A report found they’re more likely to be placed in ICUs, ERs, and long-term care facilities, making them more likely to be exposed to COVID.
nationalnursesunited.org/sites/default/…

Read 5 tweets

The Recount

@therecount

24 Nov

President-elect Joe Biden and VP-elect Kamala Harris have unveiled their initial Cabinet picks — and our next White House is shaping up to be one full of "firsts."

(AP/Carolyn Kaster)

Topping the list is Avril Haines, the first woman to lead the intelligence community, and Alejandro Mayorkas, the first Latino and immigrant to lead the Dept. of Homeland Security.
cnn.com/2020/11/23/pol…

@nytimes

If you need a refresher on Trump’s first — but certainly not last — Cabinet, take a look at this @nytimes article from 2017.

Of the 24 positions: 20 were filled by men (18 white), 4 by women (2 white).
nytimes.com/interactive/20…

Read 4 tweets

The Recount

@therecount

20 Nov

In case you missed it, the White House squashed a deal to offer mental health services to migrant families separated at the border.

Sources say one man is to blame: senior adviser Stephen Miller.
nbcnews.com/politics/immig…

Let’s rewind to October 2019: After nine months of negotiations, an $8 million settlement had been "agreed to in principle" by both the Justice Department and lawyers representing the migrant families.

But in the 11th hour, the White House swooped in to kill the deal.

A month ago, we reported that the parents of 545 migrant children could not be located as a result of Trump’s zero-tolerance family separation policy. That number is now 666.

Let that sink in: 666 kids without parents — and without mental health services.