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Poll: 31% of Connecticut residents report mental health decline during COVID-19

Hartford Courant - 4/14/2021

A new poll from Sacred Heart University found nearly one-third of Connecticut residents report a decline in their mental health due to the coronavirus pandemic and its effects on daily living.

Asked to choose from a variety of ways COVID-19 has impacted their quality of life, 31% of respondents said their mental health had declined. The numbers were greater for women (35.3%) and people ages 18-34 (39.9%).

State leaders have acknowledged throughout the pandemic the mental toll it has taken on residents in addition to the nearly 8,000 lives that COVID-19 has claimed in Connecticut so far.

“I can feel the stress building again,” Gov. Ned Lamont said last fall as he announced the state had received a five-year, $3.5 million federal grant to enhance statewide suicide prevention efforts. He described a “witches’ brew” of health concerns, economic distress and social isolation brought by the pandemic.

In December, at a roundtable with mental health care providers and commissioners from the state departments of Mental Health and Addiction Services and Children and Families, Lamont urged anyone experiencing mental health issues to call the state’s 211 resource line.

“If you’re a teen, we can get you in contact with another teen,” he said. “If you have a crisis we’ll get you in contact with the right person.”

The state expects to use federal funding through the recently enacted American Rescue Plan to bolster mental health assistance.

Sacred Heart’s poll, which surveyed 1,000 state residents online and by phone from March 23-31 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, found Lamont continues to get high marks for his handling of the coronavirus crisis.

The governor’s overall approval rating stood at 57.3% but 70.1% supported his handling of COVID-19. Lamont’s approval rating in a March 2020 Sacred Heart poll, before the pandemic took hold in Connecticut, was just 31%.

Russell Blair can be reached at rblair@courant.com.

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