Roy Blunt: “we have seen things in the pandemic crisis that nobody in living memory has dealt with. In so many ways we are writing…”

“we have seen things in the pandemic crisis that nobody in living memory has dealt with. In so many ways we are writing the book and trying to read the book at the same time, trying to figure out how we get to where we need to be. Clearly there has been an incredible strain on the American economy and an incredible strain on the American healthcare system and everybody involved with that. Public health experts told us we had to flatten the curve, and the economic cost of flattening the curve was pretty great. On the other side of that equation, the impact on hospitals was significant in that many of them have been ready and waiting for whatever they needed to do, and because we flattened the curve, the worst-case scenarios didn't occur, and in most cases they were prevented, and we had plenty of hospital beds. Before it was over, we had ventilators and all those things we will have later. But the crisis, because of flattening the curve, has certainly lasted longer and will last longer than it would have otherwise. I am not saying that is a bad thing; I am just saying measures like closing businesses and sending people home from work, practicing social distancing, putting people on the unemployment rolls have really created serious problems for people who have cause to have challenges to their mental well-being. I think the impact is that nearly half the adults in the United States say that the coronavirus has impacted their mental health.…”