Symptoms of Depression, Anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Suicidal Ideation Among State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Public Health Workers During COVID-19 Pandemic - United States, March-April 2021 [cdc.gov]

By Jonathan Bryant-Genevier, Carol Y. Rao, Barbara Lopes-Cardozo, et al., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, July 2, 2021

The CDC released a new Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)- Symptoms of Depression, Anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Suicidal Ideation Among State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Public Health Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: United States, March - April 2021.

The MMWR, which collected survey responses from public health workers during the pandemic, including CI/CTs deployed to CA LHJs, provided worrying results on the current and long-time mental health impacts on those who participated in the program. This report should be included in the offboarding materials provided to home department supervisors but more importantly, needs to be shared with the Governor's Office to proactively address the mental health of the state workers who were often volunteered by their managers and not given any choice.

The major findings of the survey are:

• 53% of respondents reported at least one adverse mental health condition in 2 weeks preceding the survey
• Highest prevalence of symptoms of a mental health condition or suicidal ideation were among the following groups:

• ~20% of respondents reported needing mental health counseling/services in the previous 4 weeks but were unable to receive care
• ~12% of respondents who had access to EAP accessed those services
• Symptoms of anxiety and depression were similar to those reported in HCW
• Prevalence of PTSD was 10-20% HIGHER than that reported in health care workers, frontline personnel, and the general public.
  • Symptoms of PTSD disproportionately affected public health workers who experienced work-related traumatic stressors (e.g., felt inadequately compensated or felt unappreciated at work), particularly those factors that affect workers' personal lives (e.g., felt disconnected from family and friends because of workload)."

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