The suicide rate in the US fell by almost 6% last year, the biggest decline in four decades, despite blockages, deaths and other hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to preliminary government data reviewed by The Associated Press.
Less than 45,000 suicides were reported last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the lowest number of suicides in the United States since 2015.
The banking service notes that death certificates are still coming, but officials expect this decline to last.
The number of suicides in the US peaked in 2018, the highest rate since 1941, according to the AP. The 2018 number came after nearly two decades of a steadily rising suicide rate since the early 2000s.
A slight decrease in cases was recorded in 2019, which was attributed to increased mental health checks, along with other methods of suicide prevention.
The reason for the decline in 2020 is not clear, but one expert said the PA could be attributed to a common phenomenon observed in the early stages of natural disasters and wars.
“There is a phase of heroism in every disaster, where we come together and express a lot of messages of support that we are together in this,” said Christine Moutier, chief medical officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “You saw that, at least in the first months of the pandemic.”
Moutier said the decrease could also be attributed to the availability of telehealth services.
However, Moutier said he would like to see the demographic breakdown of suicides once reported by the CDC, saying suicides may not have declined among young people and young adults.
“We may see the full ramifications of the mental health of this pandemic,” a moment later, Moutier said.
The news comes just days after a study published in the Medical Journal of Lancet Psychiatry found that one in three COVID-19 survivors was diagnosed with psychological or neurological conditions six months after their infection.