As the nation slowly emerges from lockdown, we’re beginning to appreciate the full impact of the pandemic and that the sickness and death directly caused by the virus are only part of the picture.

The three-month-plus suspension of routine, non-emergency medical care has created secondary, silent epidemics of untreated medical issues that require the urgent focus of both our public health officials and the public themselves. They include domestic violence and likely increases in undiagnosed cancers.