More people died of suicide in a single Tennessee county last week than of the coronavirus across the entire state, according to one local official.
Knox County Regional Forensic Center examined nine suspected suicides in under 48 hours last week, Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs said, according to the Tennessee Star.
“Is what we are doing now really the best approach? How can we respond to COVID-19 in a way that keeps our economy intact, keeps people employed, and empowers our people with a feeling of hope and optimism, not desperation and despair?” Jacobs asked.
State Department of Health data shows six people have died of the coronavirus in Tennessee as of Sunday morning.
“Thus far, our reaction to COVID-19 has been to sacrifice the global economy,” Jacobs said. “The truth is: a sick economy produces sick people.”
The U.S. economy has been severely slowed by the rapid spread of the virus, which has led to the shuttering of millions of restaurants, bars, and other nonessential businesses across the country.
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A record 3.3 million U.S. citizens made unemployment claims earlier in March, reported the Labor Department last week.
Several localities in Tennessee have issued “safe at home” orders, and Republican Gov. Bill Lee has said he is not ruling out the possibility of a statewide lockdown similar to those in New York and California.
Earlier this week, President Trump predicted a rise in suicide rates across the country if the U.S. economy continues to slide.
“You have tremendous responsibility. We have jobs. We have … people get tremendous anxiety and depression, and you have suicides over things like this when you have terrible economies. You have death probably in far greater numbers than the numbers we are talking about with regard to the virus,” Trump said.
Trump has pledged to get the U.S. economy up and running again in a matter of weeks, saying he is hopeful federal health guidelines and restrictions could be loosened by as early as Easter, April 12.
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