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Addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky argued on Friday that United States governors are falsely justifying stay-at-home orders under the pretense of using scientific reasoning to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
“There is no science of lockdown, there is not. We don’t have that science. It’s all models, conjecture, theory, this isn’t science,” Pinsky told “The Brian Kilmeade Show.”
Pinsky said there has been “absolutely” an uptick in mental health issues and substance abuse — especially alcohol — as people spend weeks in their homes. He disputed the notion that there is settled science behind implementing mass quarantines of healthy people, calling it an unprecedented step.
“The idea of quarantining a healthy population has never been done before in human history,” said Pinsky, adding that much of the spread of coronavirus has happened in homes and in tight spaces like mass transit.
As most states begin to move forward with measures to reopen their economies following strict lockdowns aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus, some governors and big-city mayors are now saying the restrictions will not fully be lifted until a vaccine or treatment for the disease is available — a timeline that could take a year or more.
President Trump has said that the U.S. will reopen “vaccine or no vaccine,” and told governors in a call Monday that the federal government “will step in if we see something going wrong, or if we disagree” with how states are lifting their lockdown orders aimed at preventing the virus’ spread.
“You, too, should expect to continue with this for the foreseeable future,” Murphy said of the state’s coronavirus restrictions, as he outlined when workers might be able to get back to their offices.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said that crowds would not be able to gather for professional or college sports in her state until a vaccine is available or there’s a rigorous testing regime in place with signs of herd immunity in the population.
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“We’re gonna be in a new normal for quite a while. And it doesn’t mean that sports is over,” Whitmer said in a press conference Friday, mentioning a plan being pursued by the MLB to play a shortened season with no fans present.
Pinsky said that while the economy is shut down, people are not getting the medical services they need.
“People not getting to the hospital, people not getting their elective surgeries, and now the mental health crisis that looms ahead. These have to be measured against any interventions we take for the virus,” Pinsky said.
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Pinsky said that “it is not healthy to take the livelihood” away from human beings.
“Humans need to have a future. They need to be able to plan and move forward,” Pinsky said. “What I’m seeing and what the parents are telling me, the population that is having the most serious reaction: the late childhood and early adolescence. They are really in trouble.”
The global lockdown from the coronavirus pandemic has affected the mental health of many, especially children and teenagers, new research has found. According to data from athenahealth, children and teenagers that were diagnosed with ADHD for the first time rose 66 percent during March and April, while 41 percent of patient visits among children and teenagers also involved discussion of depression.
