While reporting on the pandemic over the past few months, my colleagues and I have heard story after story from ordinary Americans forced into impossible situations by circumstances outside of their control. Women, in particular, often seem to bear the heaviest burdens. We’ve heard from women trying to keep their kids’ education on track while hiding the fact that their family is on the edge of eviction, from others struggling to get to work on gutted public transportation networks, and from still others who went from the height of their careers to nearly broke.
A new study from CARE, a non-profit international aid organization, underscores the larger trend behind those individual stories: women around the world are facing a mental health crisis amid the pandemic. In a survey of more than 10,000 people in 38 countries, the researchers showed that women are reporting mental health issues at almost three times the rate of men, exhibiting symptoms including anxiety, loss of appetite, insomnia and trouble completing everyday tasks.
“We had a lot of qualitative data from women about stress, fear, anxiety, worry for the future,” Emily Janoch, CARE's director of knowledge management and learning, told my colleague Jeffrey Kluger. “Then we dug into those responses and looked for the causative factor.”
The researchers found women are being hit with stressors that don’t always apply to men, many of which have to do with economic gender imbalances. In the U.S., for example, 2.5 million more women than men were laid off between February and May. The disparity is even more extreme elsewhere in the world. In Lebanon, women were more than twice as likely to report being laid off during this recession. In Bangladesh, women have been laid off at six times the rate of men.
Add to those alarming findings, too, the cultural and health care disparities affecting women. In the U.S., women generally commit far more time to housework and childcare compared to men. Furthermore, the researchers found that women in some areas have trouble getting the help they need—in Palestine, for example, only 8% of women report having access to adequate mental health care, in contrast to 67% of men.
"When you ask women if their anxiety has gone up, they say, 'Yes, and here's why: I'm not sure how many more days I can feed my family. I'm afraid I'm going to lose my job, and I have no back-up plan,'" Janoch told Jeffrey.
More than 32.1 million people around the world had been sickened by COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 981,800 people have died.
On Sept. 24, there were 361,390 new cases and 6,704 new deaths confirmed globally. Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here is every country with over 350,000 confirmed cases to date ("per cap" is number per 100,000 people):
Israel, which is in the midst of a second national lockdown and currently has the world’s highest rate of new cases per capita, has barred citizens from traveling abroad on vacation if they purchased tickets after mid-afternoon today. Few countries were accepting Israeli travelers anyway, though some vacationers’ plans to visit Athens or Belgrade—both in countries that were still accepting Israeli visitors—were likely thrown into disarray.
Rio de Janeiro is delaying next year’s running of its annual Carnival parade, which was set to be held in February. It’s the first time in over 100 years the famous celebration is being postponed, officials say. Brazil, which confirmed its first coronavirus case one day after 2020’s Carnival festivities ended, is among the worst-hit countries in the world, with the Rio region alone reporting more than 15,000 virus-related deaths since March.
More than 25,000 people in Iran have died of the coronavirus as of today, per CNN, after the nation’s health ministry reported an additional 207 deaths—though no outside source is confirming official figures. In early August, a data leak appeared to show that the true number of virus deaths in Iran was nearly triple the government-reported number.
The organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which have been rescheduled to summer 2021, unveiled a series of proposals to scale down the event today. Among the 50-plus measures: cutting the number of officials on hand by 10-15% and cancelling welcome ceremonies at the Olympic Village.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded more than 6.9 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. Nearly 203,000 people have died. Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
On Sept. 24, there were 44,110 new cases and 914 new deaths confirmed in the U.S. Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are drafting a new $2.4 trillion pandemic relief package, months after their larger HEROES Act was stonewalled by Senate Republicans, who argued the previous bill was too expensive. Months of political deadlock continue to leave out-of-work Americans without expanded federal unemployment benefits and other forms of relief; it’s unclear if the new offering will find fresh legs.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis moved the state to phase 3 of its reopening today, allowing the restaurants to reopen at full capacity—though some restrictions will likely remain for southern Florida, which has been particularly badly hit by the virus. Cases in Florida have declined since peaking in mid-July, though it continues to report well over 2,000 new cases on average per day.
Two former officials at a Massachusetts veterans’ home have been indicted on felony criminal neglect charges following an outbreak that contributed to the deaths of more than 70 residents, state prosecutors announced today. Residents of long-term care facilities have accounted for more than 40% of U.S. virus deaths.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of September 25, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Mumbai Slum Weathers Virus Outbreak
As COVID-19 cases in India continue to climb, residents in Dharavi, an ultra-dense informal settlement of nearly a million people in Mumbai, have managed to contain the virus for now. But the area’s residents are still struggling to get by in a lockdown-crippled economy. Read more here.
Critical Child Hunger Program Set to Expire
Despite overwhelming need, the Pandemic-EBT program, which, starting in March, supplied families with money to buy food, is due to expire at the end of September without congressional action, Mother Jones reports. Families in the program received between $250 and $450 per school-age child to replace free or reduced-price meals the children would otherwise be getting at school. Read more here.
Minnesota Virus Survey Canceled Amid Intimidation and Racism
Public health teams conducting virus testing surveys in Minnesota were met with racial and ethnic slurs and other forms of intimidation by local residents in multiple instances, resulting in the termination of the project in the state, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. “There is no justification for this—the enemy is the virus and not the public health workers who are trying to help,” said state epidemiologist Dr. Ruth Lynfield. Read more here.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Alejandro de la Garza and edited by Alex Fitzpatrick.
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