A mentally ill man from New Jersey was caught running out of a grave yard butt-naked and bleeding. Authorities claim he was trying to dig up a grave at the Hackensack Cemetery. The man was taken to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
Naked man running out of a cemetery
A Hackensack police officer was working a traffic detail on Kinderkamack Road outside of the Madison Arms apartment complex when he spotted something a bit out of the ordinary. A 31-year-old man came running out of the nearby cemetery. It was 10:30am and freezing cold outside and the man was completely naked. His hands were bleeding, apparently from digging in the cold ground. Authorities quickly determined the man was mentally ill and he was taken to New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus for treatment and a psychological evaluation.
Rising drug and alcohol abuse
The COVID-19 pandemic is having another unforeseen side effect in America. Alcohol and substance abuse rates have skyrocketed. The stay at home orders coupled with the increase in jobless claims have made many turn to the bottle. “There is data to indicate people are drinking more than usual,” said Dr. Mariann Piano, a substance abuse researcher. “And there’s no question that drinking too much every day leads to an increase in health risks.”
One report showed a 54% increase in national sales of alcohol for the week ending March 21, 2020. Online sales of alcohol increased 262% from 2019. More than 40 states have reported increases in opioid-related mortality as well as ongoing concerns for those with a mental illness or substance abuse disorder.
One psychiatrist claims that COVID-19 has directly pushed up anxiety levels for many people, even if they are never infected by the virus. Dr. Adriane dela Cruz said, “There are all these uncertainties: ‘Will I still have a job? A lot of my patients talk about this idea that there’s a hamster wheel constantly going in their head and that alcohol quiets down the hamster wheel. All these factors have crashed together to make this a potentially difficult time. There’s no last call when you’re your own bartender.”