Throughout 2020, the U.S. has been playing catch-up against the coronavirus. As several well-researched articles have noted, lack of appropriate and timely response has been at the forefront and can be attributed to numerous factors including the highly contagious nature of the virus and simultaneously a delay in formulating an adequate medical management and containment strategy. While there are few, if any, silver linings with respect to eradicating this pandemic, the same does not have to be true when we look back years from now and examine how we began mobilizing to stem what is likely to become an increasingly serious public health crisis: psychological-emotional stress and skyrocketing rates of substance abuse.
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