Lawmakers from both chambers and across the political aisle pressed congressional leadership this week to include legislation in the next COVID-19 relief package that would establish “9-8-8” as the official dialing code for a national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline.
It’s the latest of several moves federal officials have made over the last two years in an attempt to enhance America’s suicide prevention efforts by widdling down the current ten-digit long phone number to increase accessibility. According to the more than 30 lawmakers who penned a letter to top members of the Senate and House of Representatives Tuesday, the current pandemic renders that change to be all the more necessary.
“As our country is working together to address this virus, it is crucial that mental health support is at the forefront of all of our minds,” the officials wrote.
Social-distancing orders, the unemployment surge, devastating realities of the medical frontline and beyond are amplifying anxiety and depression amid the national health crisis, with heartbreaking reports of COVID-19-related suicides becoming all too frequent. In their letter, the lawmakers note that on April 4, data from one call center in the nation’s network that had only 22 crisis calls related to COVID-19 in February, revealed that “that number grew by over 8,000% to 1,800 in March.”
The officials argue that instituting a three-digit hotline ..
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