More than 600 physicians in the United States sent a letter to President Donald Trump calling the coronavirus pandemic controlled lockdowns a “mass casualty incident” with “exponentially growing negative health consequences” to millions of non-COVID-19 patients.
“Millions of Americans are already at triage level red. These include 150,000 Americans per month who would have had a new cancer detected through routine screening that hasn’t happened, millions who have missed routine dental care to fix problems strongly linked to heart disease/death, and preventable cases of stroke, heart attack, and child abuse. Suicide hotline phone calls have increased 600%,” the letter said.
The letter was initiated by Simone Gold, M.D., an emergency medicine specialist in Los Angeles.
“Liquor sales have increased 300-600%, cigarettes sales have increased, rent has gone unpaid, family relationships have become frayed, and millions of well-child check-ups have been missed,” the letter reads.
“It is impossible to overstate the short, medium, and long-term harm to people’s health with a continued shutdown,” the letter says.
At least 100,000 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S
