Fatalities resulting from suicide, drug and alcohol poisoning, along with alcoholic liver disease and cirrhosis, are often categorized as deaths of despair. As many as 75,000 Americans could die because of drugs or suicide as a result of the corona-virus pandemic according to an analysis by the national public health group Well Being Trust.

The group is sounding the alarm that the growing unemployment crisis, economic downturns, and stress caused by isolation and lack of a definitive end date for the pandemic could significantly increase so-called deaths of despair, deaths associated with mental health, economic factors, and related drug and alcohol use. By one estimate, nearly as many Americans could die deaths of despair related to COVID-19 as having lost their lives to the virus itself.

Read the Projected Deaths of Despair from COVID-19 report by Well Being Trust released in May 2020.
Forbes reported a projected 75,000 Deaths Of Despair could result from corona-virus pandemic. Read here.