Anxiety, depression on the rise

Health workers are reporting an increase in anxiety and depression locally since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Amy Fantozzi told the Lincoln County Board of Health last week that mental health needs had risen since the spring. A member of the local mental health coalition and an education specialist with the county health department, Fantozzi offered her assessment during a discussion of local mental health needs.

“Absolutely. It’s a 100 percent increase in anxiety and depression,” she told health board members.

Health workers also have noticed elderly residents suffering the effects of isolation, Fantozzi said.

She delivered the update after several board members worried publicly that the mental health effects of the pandemic were getting overlooked. During the board’s August meeting, Vice Chair George Jamison argued the economic and mental health issues were as important to the board as efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Jamison was not the first to mention mental health concerns in connection with the pandemic. County Commissioner Mark Peck (D-1) has previously raised the heightened number of suicides locally thus far this year as a source of worry.

“We’ve got a lot of impacts going on in this county that are worse this year than last year,” Peck said during a July 20 health board meeting. “We don’t know what the ramifications are and we need to be aware of those things.”