The San Diego Union-Tribune printed this letter to the editor (archived) June 8:

COVID-related anxiety disorder affects many locals

“About 238,000 adults in San Diego County suffer from a serious anxiety disorder resulting from their experience of the COVID pandemic. These cases have occurred entirely due to the pandemic, and are in addition to those who suffered from generalized anxiety disorder prior.

Anxiety was a reasonable response at the peak of the pandemic, but for reasons of personal vulnerability, individuals in this group have continued to experience crippling levels of anxiety after the pandemic ended. This is similar to the way post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms remain long after exposure.

This group particularly needs services because they may be unaware of the source of their symptoms and that effective treatments do exist. I call on treatment centers and individual therapists with expertise in treating anxiety disorders to reach out to this group.”

— David Mills, San Diego

I wondered where such a number came from. I emailed the paper to see if they had a citation and they pointed me to covid19ptsd.com, specifically the June newsletter. The newsletters were pretty thin and didn't include that number, but did cite some other news articles. From what I can tell, I think the number is extrapolated. The current percent of Americans experiencing anxiety symptoms (self-reported) minus the pre-pandemic percent is about 9%. I think they took the number of adults in San Diego County and multiplied by 9% to get that number.

The phrasing in the letter also bugged me. “entirely”? “reasonable”? “crippling”? The headings on that site at the time included “The Pandemic Has Ended, But Negative Consequences Remain” (more on that below). It all seemed so condescending. I decided to send my own letter to the editor in response:

COVID is still with us

Re: Mr. Mills’ letter on June 8, I take issue with framing the pandemic as something in the past. Despite government officials and our bosses telling us the pandemic has “ended,” the virus continues to spread and mutate almost entirely unmitigated, causing long-term health issues, disabling, and killing people. We just had the second largest wave of transmission this past winter based on wastewater data (see pmc19.com/data). The dangers of C19 have not changed much; the powers that be just decided to put all of the burden on individuals and end the emergency response.

I also object to the implication that anxiety around the ongoing pandemic is “unreasonable.” There are plenty of reasons to be anxious about C19, not least of which is the fact that so few are willing to take easy, well-known precautions like wearing a mask to protect each others’ health.

— Gregor Morrill, San Diego

That covid19ptsd site seemed fishy when I first saw it. The headline was “Celebrate The End Of The COVID Pandemic” and listed the date September 15, 2024. That seemed to imply an event, but there were no other details. It also acknowledged Long Covid, which made the “ended” language even more odd. There was a very generic call to donate without details of what the funds are for. “Help our organization by donating today! All donations go directly to making a difference for our cause.” Currently it shows they’ve raised $215 out of a $10,000 goal.

As I was writing this post, I looked over the site again. I was surprised that the tone had changed. Now the headline is “The COVID Pandemic Has Not Completely Ended.” That’s a positive improvement, at least. The September date is gone, though, and the ambiguous prompt to donate is still there. Thanks to the Internet Archive, we can compare the changes.