With the focus on what to do to stem CONVO-19 at the federal, state and county level, one major crisis area is being over looked.

In past crisis like the Great Recession of 2007-09, the loss of jobs, sinking home values and stock market free-fall led to a significant rise in suicides. (See https://bit.ly/3doPrkP)

There is massive scientific research that shows that labor force status is a strong predictor of suicide deaths. With the stock market losing over 30% of its value, and unemployment expected to reach 4.6 million Americans, it’s plausible that more people will die by suicide, drug overdose, and alcoholism than from COVID-19 itself.

Your friends, neighbors, colleagues and even family members who had been undetected as being at-risk before this Pandemic, and others who were not previously at risk but are significantly being impacted by the school and businesses closures, the stock market selloff and by the directive for social-distancing, need to hear from you. This is a call for ALL OF US to learn the warning signs (see http://bit.ly/2oVIj7U), to call them up often, to show them you care.

The newly commissioned Suicide Awareness and Prevention Council for Curry County team (See https://bit.ly/33AlSZ2#2020) is actively working to develop solutions to reduce suicidal issues specific to Curry County. What do you think needs to be done to make this happen? We want to hear from you, (gordonclay@aol.com)

Gordon Clay
ZeroAttempts.org
Brookings, OR