Remember earlier this week when journos were all bent out of shape that President Trump dared to suggest there might be an increase of suicides in an economic downturn caused by the coronavirus lockdowns?

Thanks to @JDiamond1 for passing me the microphone & letting me ask my second question. I asked: Which health professionals are telling you that more people will die from the economic impact than coronavirus? Trump didn’t answer directly and instead just repeated his claims. — Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) March 29, 2020

The AP even did a “Fact Check” on it, declaring “Suicides tend to diminish in times of crisis as society pulls together”:

Which brings us to Reuters who is now warning that “Massive unemployment means we could be looking at an extra 20,000 suicides in the US and Europe”:

AP 'Fact Check' from 3/24: Trump's suggestion virus lockdown could cause suicides is bunk Reuters today: Massive unemployment means we could be looking at an extra 20,000 suicides in the US and Europe ¯_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/ngnyFUyhw6 — Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) April 3, 2020

What pisses us off is that journos should never even have questioned this. OF COURSE this is a concern, and we should be talking about to make sure our fellow Americans get the help they need during the crisis:

This is what I have been saying, people! The shutdown will cost human lives, just as no restrictions will also cost human lives. Where is the consideration for the lives lost or destroyed through these draconian, one-size-fits-all shutdowns, by policy-makers? https://t.co/692U14NHQl — Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) April 3, 2020

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