Thread by @ggreenwald

The isolation, lockdowns, quarantines and the ruptures of connections to community ushered in by COVID policies is causing a vast mental health crisis in the US, so severe that therapists are turning away large numbers of patients needing counseling:

nytimes.com/interactive/20…

Meanwhile, the leading cause of deaths for Americans ages 18-45 is not COVID. It is fatal drug overdoses: by far.

One reason is the increase of fentanyl, but another is the isolation, loneliness and loss of purpose from COVID restrictions.

fox5atlanta.com/news/fentanyl-…

Early in the pandemic, I interviewed 2 experts on depression and addiction: @johannhari101 and Andrew Solomon. They both warned that even short isolation periods -- a few months -- could severely exacerbate the mental health crisis. It's now 2 years.

theintercept.com/2020/04/15/wat…

It is obscene how the term "anti-vax" has been manipulated and warped from its original meaning (those who oppose the science of vaccines) into "anyone questioning state power in the name of COVID or, worse, those urging these grave costs be considered":

greenwald.substack.com/p/the-bizarre-…

We have no idea what the long-term psychological and intellectual costs will be from keeping kids out of school for so much time, or depriving young adults - at their key point of development - of the ability to go to school or work, but it will surely be grave and enduring.

Maligning everyone as "anti-vax" who doesn't agree with you on every COVID policy - even those who are vaccinated and publicly encouraged others to be (like Corbyn) - is grotesque. But if "anti-vax" now means rejecting maximalist state power to stop COVID, then this should count:

Millions of Americans still refuse to get the COVID vaccine despite mandates and other coercive incentives. In response, do you favor: