Mental Health Industry Stretched To Breaking Point, Report Finds

Modern Healthcare: COVID-19 Tests Industry's Mental Health Capacity
More people are seeking mental health services amid the pandemic, which will test the limits of the already-stretched sector and significantly increase healthcare costs if left unaddressed, a new report shows. Around 12% of consumers with employer-based insurance sought help for mental health as a result of COVID-19, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute survey from April 28 to May 8. (Kacik, 6/25)

WBUR: 'Bear Our Pain': The Plea For More Black Mental Health Workers 
The need for mental health support is more evident than ever, especially among Black Americans, say people who study and experience the burden of racism. People of color were already dealing with heavy loads from a pandemic that continues to claim a greater proportion of Black, Latino and Native American lives and a greater share of jobs. Now there's the emotional reckoning following George Floyd's murder, which has stirred up a kind of collective trauma. (Noguchi, 6/25)

ABC News: Brief Health Care Interventions May Help Lower Suicide Rates, Study Finds 
When it comes to suicide prevention, even a little bit of help can go a long way. That's according to a recent study, published in Jama Psychiatry, which found that brief encounters with a health care professional may lower a person's risk of attempting suicide for up to a year. (Safai, 6/26)

Stat: Behind A Wave Of Covid-19 A Surge In Other Health Conditions Looms
The Covid-19 crisis has washed across the United States like a tidal wave. And experts say it has set the stage for dangerous ripple effects, with Americans suffering from a decline in conditions they are failing to have treated because of the pandemic. “There’s a huge, massive wave coming up behind us, because people have delayed vital care in terms of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease,” said Garth Graham, vice president of community health at CVS Health, speaking at a virtual Milken Institute conference this week. The same underlying health conditions, he added, can exacerbate the severity of Covid-19 — particularly if left unchecked. (Keshavan, 6/25)

Kaiser Health News: Sweeps Of Homeless Camps Run Counter To COVID Guidance And Pile On Health Risks
Melody Lewis lives like a nomad in the heart of downtown.Poking her head out of her green tent on a recent June day, the 57-year-old pointed a few blocks away to the place where city crews picked up her tent from a sidewalk median earlier this spring and replaced it with landscaping rocks, fencing and signs warning trespassers to keep out. (Rodgers, 6/26)

CIDRAP: CDC: Pregnant Women With COVID-19 Face More Critical Care
A US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found that pregnant women with COVID-19 are at increased risk for hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and mechanical ventilation but not death. Researchers studied the disease surveillance data of 8,207 pregnant women infected with the novel coronavirus and 83,205 nonpregnant women aged 15 to 44 years from Jan 22 to Jun 7 to determine whether the immunologic and physiologic changes of pregnancy put them at risk for more severe outcomes. (Van Beusekom, 6/25)

In other news —

The Washington Post: Disney’s Splash Mountain Gets New “Princess And The Frog” Theme After Petitions 
Disney is changing the story of its Splash Mountain flume ride. Out: the controversial 1946 movie “Song of the South,” which the company refuses to even show because of content that has been decried as racist. In: “The Princess and the Frog,” Disney’s first animated film featuring a black princess.“ The new concept is inclusive – one that all of our guests can connect with and be inspired by, and it speaks to the diversity of the millions of people who visit our parks each year,” Disneyland Resort public relations director Michael Ramirez said in a blog post. (Sampson, 6/25)

The Washington Post: Cultural Institutions Reopen With A More Hands-Off Approach 
Since Pennsylvania ordered the closure of nonessential businesses, people have been asking Trish Wellenbach if she will change the name of the Philadelphia children’s museum she runs. When global health experts are advising the world to avoid touching, is the Please Touch Museum sending the wrong message? Wellenbach isn’t budging on this point. “We are going to stick with the name,” said the museum’s president and chief executive. But the institution will make a number of modifications that will allow it to comply with safety protocols without sacrificing the principles of its founder, a Montessori educator from the 1970s. (Sachs, 6/25)