NHL Player Drops Out of Beijing Olympics, Citing Covid Lockdown Impact on Mental Health
Francesco Abbruzzino, The Uncensored Report, LLC
A NHL player has dropped out of the Beijing Olympics, citing concerns over how the Covid lockdown would impact his mental health.
Vegas goaltender Robin Lehner, who has previously struggled with bipolar disorder, wasn’t comfortable with China’s “guidelines” for the games in which players must stay within a “closed loop,” won’t be able to play in front of foreign spectators and will be subject to mandatory daily testing.
“Reality is that what have been said about how it’s going to be is not ideal for my mental health,” he said on Twitter. “Took long time to make decision with my psychiatrist and family.”
“My well being have too come first and being locked down and not knowing what happens if you test positive is to much of a risk for me.”
It’s possible that Lehner would have been isolated in China for weeks if he tested positive for Covid during the games.
Lehner’s concerns contradict Chinese state media which, earlier this year, claimed that the country’s Covid lockdowns were having a “positive effect” on mental health by claiming that people who were already depressed no longer felt the pressure to make “small talk” when out and about.
In contrast, a US-based study found that children were far more likely to suffer from mental disorders due to the government response to Covid-19 than from the virus itself.
“FAIR Health analyzed data from its database of over 32 billion private healthcare claim records, tracking month-by-month changes from January to November 2020 compared to the same months in 2019,” the study stated. “Aspects of pediatric mental health investigated include overall mental health, intentional self-harm, overdoses and substance use disorders, top mental health diagnoses, reasons for emergency room visits and state-by-state variations.”
“In April 2020, generalized anxiety disorder increased 93.6 percent over April 2019, while major depressive disorder increased 83.9 percent and adjustment disorders 89.7 percent,” the study added.