Mental Health pandemic right around the corner

The fires of the global COVID-19 pandemic are spreading at breakneck speeds around the world, and the toll that the virus is taking on people’s lives, the economies of continents, and society at large are nothing short of staggering. As the drama is only now beginning to unfold in the US, I have had front-row seats to it’s preview right here in Italy where, for the last month, the Coronavirus has decimated the elderly population of this country’s north despite an outstanding healthcare system and heroic efforts of the healthcare professionals working around the clock in unimaginable conditions. To-date 55 doctors and nurses in Italy have also succumbed to the disease they were fighting against, and hundreds more are infected putting even more strain and stress on a system barely able to function.