Isolation takes its toll.

Suicide in the age of Covid

Fear of the disease, the dread of isolation and courageous self-sacrifice are taking their own tragic toll in the global pandemic.

HEADLINE

Italian nurse with coronavirus sacrifices her own life over fear of infecting others

Isolation takes its own toll.

Daniela Trezzi, 34, was working on the front line of the coronavirus crisis when she tested positive for the illness and was terrified that she had infected others.

She had been suffering “heavy stress” amid fears she was spreading the deadly bug while trying to bring the crisis under control at San Gerardo Hospital in Monza, near Milan in the hard-hit region of Lombardy, the Daily Mail reported.

“A similar episode had happened a week ago in Venice, with the same underlying reasons,” said a nursing federation spokesperson.

‘Each of us has chosen this profession for good and, unfortunately, also for bad — we are nurses.”


Beautiful’ British teen kills herself because she couldn’t face isolation

Covid isolation takes its toll

Emily Owen, a 19-year-old waitress from King’s Lynn, 100 miles north of London, died in hospital after attempting to take her own life due to fears of the “mental health impacts” of isolation.

Days before she was found, Emily told relatives she was unable to deal with “her world closing in, plans being canceled and being stuck inside,” reported the London Sun.

The teen was in critical condition when relatives made the devastating decision to remove her from life support, allowing doctors to prep her organs for donation.


New York Man leaves note: ‘How do you enjoy life?’ before jumping to his death

Covid isolation takes its toll

New York City photographer Robert Herman left a suicide note before leaping to his death from his luxury apartment building in Tribeca, the New York Post reported.

“How do you enjoy life?” the note read.

The award-winning street photographer who had published two books of photos — ’The New Yorkers’ in 2013 and ’The Phone Book’ in 2015.

Herman, 64, landed in the courtyard of the high-end building on Chambers Street near North End Avenue.


Traveller suspected of coronavirus commits suicide by jumping from isolation ward

A New Delhi man in an isolation ward who was believed to be infected with the coronavirus committed suicide by jumping from the seventh floor of the Safdarjung Hospital building.

The man, who had just returned on a flight from Sydney, was waiting for his test results when he forced open the isolation ward window and fell to his death.


Indian man kills himself after becoming convinced he was infected

A father of three children became so terrified of infecting his family that he took his own life.

K. Bala Krishna, who lives in a small village in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, was told by doctors he had contracted an unknown virus after falling ill.

The 50-year-old became convinced the “unknown virus” was Covid-19 after watching videos online.


SO MANY OTHER CASES

Phone calls to national suicide prevention hotlines around the world are up more than 300 percent. Regional suicide prevention services across the United States are also overwhelmed with a record number of calls.

“The thought of contracting the virus is so terrifying,” said one hotline spokesperson, “they would rather be dead.”


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11 thoughts on “Suicide in the age of Covid

  1. Billy, it’s very educational reading this. Looks like mental illness can be even more contagious than the virus … I hope you are doing ok, Billy, living with the reality of dread?

  2. It’s tragic indeed, no one is naturally self isolated and I think this heightens self harm behaviour. We are a gregarious species

  3. Gregarious we are and isolation can be a living death, only remedied by a bullet or a rope.

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