COVID-19 and Mental Health: An Examination of 911 Calls for Service.
Open accessAbstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the rate and geographic distribution of 911 calls for service related to mental health issues during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the City of Detroit, MI, USA. The results suggest that the total number of calls for mental health issues was at the lowest level when compared with the same time period for the previous 3 years. Furthermore, as both the daily reported COVID-19 cases and related deaths increased over time, there was a significant decline in both suicide threats and suicides in progress. Significant hot spots were found for the total calls as well as for threats of suicide. These hot spots did not coincide with the spatial distribution of reported cases of COVID-19 by ZIP code. While higher and lower areas of reported cases were found, these differences by ZIP code were not found to be significant. When compared with the previous 3 years of data, the hot spot area was much smaller in 2020, implying that the mental health-related calls for service were more evenly spread throughout the city.
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A study of emergency police calls in Detroit, USA (Lersch et al., 2020) showed that the number of general mental health calls declined after the onset of the pandemic, while calls relating to suicides in progress remained relatively stable over the 4 year period.
“A study of emergency police calls in Detroit, USA, (Lersch et al., 2020) showed that the number of general mental health calls declined after the onset of the pandemic in that city, while calls relating to suicides in progress remained relatively stable over the 4 year period.”
From The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-harm and suicidal behaviour: update of living systematic review (2021) · cites this paper as Lersch et al., 2020
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- Authors
- Lersch, K. M.
- Affiliations
- University of South Florida (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lersch, Kim M
- ORCID
- Lersch, Kim M
- Venue
- Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2020-08-05
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1112-1126
- ISSN
- 1752-4512 (ISSN-L)
- 1752-4520
- PMC
- PMC7454910
- OpenAlex
- W3047008428
- Cited by
- 28
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 1.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model (vor)
- Locations
- Policing A Journal of Policy and Practice (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Digital Commons - University of South Florida (University of South Florida) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, mental health, suicide threats, suicide attempts, hot spots, geographic distribution, Detroit
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