Jason Foundation Medical Advisory Board Issues Statement on CDC Report News provided by Share this article Share this article HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn., May 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Jason Foundation's Medical Advisory Board today issued a statement regarding a recent report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that detailed a decline in suicide deaths during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. A national leader in suicide awareness and prevention, The Jason Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting the "silent epidemic" of youth and young adult suicide through educational programs for youth, educators, parents, and community groups. The report provided provisional data from 2020 of COVID-19 deaths within the overall death rate from all other causes in the United States. Multiple causes for death were seen to increase during the pandemic such as heart disease and stroke, but attention has been brought to the decrease in suicides during 2020 as evidence that pandemic impacts did not increase suicides but demonstrated a decrease in reported suicides. While the number of suicides were down in a year when there was a viable concern is encouraging, we must evaluate the reasons why the number may have decreased and continue to prioritize mental healthcare and suicide prevention as we are still in the pandemic environment.