Items

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  2022-03-31

  'A Cry for Help': More than a Third of High Schoolers Report Poor Mental Health During COVID, CDC Study Finds

  This is a story from USA Today by Adrianna Rodriguez. This is about the mental health in teens during the pandemic and how it has affected them. The CDC study that is cited says that 44% of high schoolers reported feeling persistently sad or helpless during 2021. Over half of the students surveyed were reported to have experienced emotional abuse from a parent, with 11% saying they have experienced physical abuse. Nearly 30% of students reported a parent or another adult in their house had lost a job. In a demographics breakdown, LGBT students reported more suicide attempts and poorer mental health than their counterparts. One third of students say that they have experienced racism. This article is meant to help show the impact COVID has had on people and the way lockdowns have impacted high schoolers specifically.
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  2021-03-10

  Pandemic downturn leads to animal abuse crisis in Kazakhstan

  Kazakhstan is facing a multitude of problems, including a weak currency, dependence on fluctuating oil prices, a closed political system and dire human rights. Amid all of this, the fate of its abused pets may seem trivial. However, passionate activists are rising up to take a stand for animal rights. As the Central Asian state’s socio-economic conditions have worsened over the past year due to the pandemic, more pet owners have been abandoning their animals or committing violence against them. And just as animal shelters are more needed than ever, they’re grappling with an influx of animals, a lack of funding and a legislative vacuum on animal rights.
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  2021-03-28

  Unintended Consequences of Lockdown

  I am researching the unintended consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article is an in-dept look on the consequences of lockdown in the US. While the article covers positive consequences like less pollution and less contagious diseases like the flu, I am going to talk about some of the ones related to my research. The article says most “unintended consequences fall generally into five categories: lack of care, isolation, wealth/health loss, psychological harm, and harm to children.” Lack of care includes people who do not feel comfortable going to the doctor or hospital for fear of catching COVID-19. The amount of people who went in for a severe heart attack has dropped by 40%. Isolation consequences include things like an increased rate of suicidal thoughts and an increase in drug overdoses. Wealth and health loss is due to loss of income, and as evidence shows, poverty is deadly. Psychological harm involves burnouts and stress related breakdowns, as well as mental health disorders and insomnia. The harm to children section includes many heartbreaking statistics about lack of school based mental health care, sexual abuse, drug use, and neglect. The article talks about how the effects of all of this may not be known for many years, but it is clear there have been many negative consequences of lockdowns due to the pandemic.
• 2021-02-04

  I Don't Want It

  Did you go get your vaccine yet? Did you have a hard time scheduling? I'm trying to get my grandparents scheduled. Are you experiencing any symptoms? Is this your first or second dose? We will be able to meet in person soon for class now that the vaccines are rolling out... All the talk around school (Zoom) the past couple of weeks has been the vaccine. It's crazy to me that my classmates and professors (some of society's most educated individuals) ignore the fact that there are some people who don't want to be vaccinated for a number of reasons. I know that my colleagues know about the issues of distrust between the medical community and people that look like me. I, personally, don't want the vaccine because I have suffered from serious medical issues due to taking FDA approved medicines and doctors never disclosed the long-term effects and over-prescribed. I have to deal with the effects of this for the rest of my life. I don't trust medicine just because the government says it's ok to take. My personal experiences in addition to the numerous instances of medical abuse on the black body (the entire foundation of the study of gynecology, Tuskeegee, Henrietta Lacks, etc) have me refusing the vaccine. I don't have anyone around me that wants to be vaccinated or that talks about it so positively until I log on for class. But, I am also the only black person in any of my classes. I stay silent when the vaccination talks come up because I don't feel like my classmates care. They are trained to research and think critically. They know the history of abuse. Yet, they are totally blind to the fact that their assumptions that everyone will get vaccinated and the world will go back to normal are wrong. Being the only person that looks like me, I don't even want to try to defend my viewpoint because at the end of the day, I'll just be the angry black girl. When trying to move forward in life, especially in academia, you're often forced to be the silent black girl.
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  2020-07

  Mental Health in Canada: Covid-19 and Beyond

  Mental health is health, this report shows the pandemic is both magnifying and contributing to Canada's mental health crisis. COVID-19 took a toll on the populations mental health, and we are expecting long term mental health effects to burden Canadians. The CAMH demands the government and policy makers step up and make mental health a priority by investing in long-term, system wide response.
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  2020-08-17

  Jewish Melbourne: NCJWA (Vic) Covid taskforce response on child safety

  Information provided by NCJWA (Vic) to provide advise to community members on ensuring child safety during pandemic times.
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  2020-10-05

  The Pandemic in Prisons: Covid-19, Repression, and the Carceral State

  This podcast episode is from the Revolutionary Left Radio podcast featuring show host Breht and guests.
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  2020-05-29

  An article discussing how scammers are taking advantage of seniors during the pandemic.

  An article discussing the fraud and scams that are an additional concern for the elderly during the pandemic. Usually a key demographic for scammers to target, the elderly are dealing with unscrupulous people who would commit fraud during the pandemic.
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  2020-04-14

  Domestic Violence Works From Home

  As the stay at home order across Illinois continues to extend as we reach the second month in quarantine, many have been trapped in unsafe situations with those they share a residence with. Domestic violence works from home, people have lost their small escape for the day. Neighborhoods in Chicago and across the city have been helping others get out of stressful situations by providing discreet messaging templates that often provide the survivor to offer their address so police could be called or for the survivor to be picked up. Recently, Chicago mayor, Lorilightfoot has also launched her plan to help by training local domestic violence hotline phone operators to give out promo codes so survivors can be driven to a safe location by a rideshare driver for free. #DePaulHST391