Bolstering Resilience: Advocates Advise Getting Ahead Of Mental Health Crisis To Prevent Suicides

NPR: Suicide Prevention Aims To Get Ahead Of Pandemic's Added Pressures 
Mental health specialists are working now to bolster the resilience of Americans who are suffering from feelings of despair — in hopes of preventing increases in suicides among people who are under increased pressure during the coronavirus pandemic. Time is of the essence, public health researchers say. Experience with past natural disasters, such as earthquakes and hurricanes, shows that a rise in suicide often happens in the months after the immediate physical dangers of the disaster have passed. (Noguchi, 5/13)

The Associated Press: Cold Cases Get Colder As Coronavirus Pandemic Wears On
Cold cases are getting colder. Detectives are struggling to connect with victims through thick masks, and investigators accustomed to wearing plainclothes are digging out their dusty uniforms for patrol duty as the coronavirus pandemic rages. Police departments nationwide are grappling with changes the virus has wrought on their investigations, even as law enforcement agencies report major decreases in crime due to stay-at-home orders. Authorities say enough wrongdoing abounds to keep police busy, and detective work must still be in-person and hands-on, despite COVID-19. Evidence has to be collected, statements must be taken in person and death notifications need to be made face-to-face. (Dazio, 5/13)

The Associated Press: 'A Pretty Scary Thing:' Kid Illness Tied To Virus Worries NY
Amber Dean had recovered from a mild bout of the coronavirus and her family of five had just ended their home quarantine when her oldest son, 9-year-old Bobby, fell ill. “At first it was nothing major, it seemed like a tummy bug, like he ate something that didn’t agree with him,” said Dean, who lives with her husband and three young children in the western New York town of Hornell. “But by the next day, he couldn’t keep anything down and his belly hurt so bad he couldn’t sit up.” (Esch, 5/13)

CNN: CDC Will Alert Doctors To Look Out For Syndrome In Children That Could Be Related To Coronavirus 
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is preparing to release an alert warning doctors to be on the lookout for a dangerous inflammatory syndrome in children that could be linked to coronavirus infection, a CDC spokesman told CNN Tuesday. The syndrome, marked by persistent fever, inflammation, poor function in one or more organs, and other symptoms similar to shock, was first reported by New York officials. More states began reporting diagnoses of the syndrome this week. (Maxouris and Fox, 5/13)

Politico: Trump Justice Department Asks For More Resources To Enforce Gun Laws
As gun sales surge during the coronavirus pandemic, the Justice Department is asking Congress for more enforcement resources — including to confiscate guns from people who shouldn’t legally be able to own them. In recent outreach to Capitol Hill, DOJ made two requests related to the spike in gun purchases, according to two sources with knowledge of those asks. First, the department asked for funding to help the FBI hire more staff to keep up with the growing number of background checks and appeal requests going through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The bureau runs that system, which handles background checks on millions of gun buyers every year. (Swan, 5/12)

The Associated Press: Exhaustion, Uncertainty Mark Coronavirus Survivors' Journeys
An angelic voice singing “Hallelujah” echoes off the stately stone and brick canyons of a narrow Montmartre street. Still struggling with COVID-19 complications two months after falling ill, Parisian soprano Veronica Antonelli wanted the impromptu performance from her third-floor balcony to project hope. Hours earlier, her doctor had delivered troubling news: The lung scarring that sometimes makes her too tired to sing may last for months. Or maybe years. (Tanner, 5/13)

Kaiser Health News: Racial Status And The Pandemic: A Combustible Mixture
In early March, Madalynn Rucker, then 69, agonized over whether to close her Sacramento consultancy office. On the 16th, she finally succumbed to a barrage of texts and calls from her daughter about the heightened risk of the coronavirus, and told her employees to begin working from home. That was three days before California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s statewide stay-at-home order. Her daughter was right in more ways than one. While Rucker’s age alone raised her potential danger of being hospitalized or dying of COVID-19, she and many of her employees share another risk factor: They are black. (Almendrala, 5/13)

PBS NewsHour: ‘We’re Angry And We’re Hurting.’ Why Communities Of Color Suffer More From COVID-19 
In U.S. cases of COVID-19 where race was identified, nearly 30 percent of patients were black -- even though African Americans make up only about 13 percent of the general population. The share of cases among Latinos is also disproportionately large. What is behind these significant racial disparities, and how are they affecting communities suffering the pandemic’s toll? (Alcindor, 5/12)

CNN: Covid-19 Symptoms Include Blood Clots, Organ Failure 
The patient had been relatively fine for the first 10 days he was down with Covid-19. Just 38, he didn't fit the description of people at high risk of complications from the new coronavirus. "He had mild pulmonary symptoms that he was just sitting at home with," said Dr. Sean Wengerter, a vascular surgeon in Pomona, New York. "He had been diagnosed at an urgent care clinic and it was going fine at home. He just had a little cough." Until one of Covid-19's surprising effects kicked in. (Fox, 5/12)

Boston Globe: Is Infertility Treatment Essential During A Pandemic? Depends On Who You Ask
For women hoping to become pregnant, the prospect of putting off infertility treatments during the pandemic is excruciating, and — some doctors say — could potentially make it more difficult for them to ultimately have a child. But continuing services could be unsafe for clinic staff, according to some employees who question whether infertility treatments should truly be considered essential. (Johnston, 5/12)