COVID-19 isn’t anything to play with and no one understands concerns more than me. After all, I’m the idiot living in the middle of a hot spot that currently has more cases in the metro area than 22 states. I get being concerned.

However, there’s a line that we just don’t need to cross. We cannot allow our concerns over the disease to make us despair. While it’s deadly, it has a fairly low mortality rate all things considered and there are steps you can take to mitigate your risk.

Unfortunately, despair is far too easy these days, and it can be just as deadly.

The bodies of a man and a woman were found inside their suburban Chicago home in what authorities say was a murder-suicide that was apparently prompted by the man’s concern that the two of them had the coronavirus, authorities said.

Deputies who were dispatched to a home in Lockport Township to conduct a welfare check Thursday discovered the bodies of Patrick Jesernik, 54, and Cheryl Schriefer, 59, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. The two, whose bodies were found in separate rooms in the residence, had each been shot once and a gun was near Jesernik’s body.

According to the report, Jesernik was afraid he and Schriefer had contracted the disease. Schriefer had reportedly been tested, but it doesn’t seem as if she’d gotten results back yet.

Folks, this is not the way to deal with things.

First, unless there are some comorbidities like breathing issues, heart disease, or diabetes–just to name a few–then COVID-19 is survivable. Plenty of people are surviving. No, we don’t know about long-term effects from the disease, but at least those who get it and survive it are still here to have long-term effects, should there be any.

However, let’s also understand that this is just the beginning. We’re seeing suicides already from people being locked up at home, often alone, and not getting out.

We will see more.

Look, the human body requires a certain amount of vitamin D per day, about 10-20 micrograms per day. Your body produces vitamin D when it’s exposed to sunlight. Guess what you’re not exposed to when you’re cooped up inside all day?

That’s right. Sunlight.

While there are alternative ways to get vitamin D, many people aren’t thinking about it and are taking vitamins at the same levels as they were before.

Unfortunately, though, vitamin D deficiency includes depression as a symptom. Guess what depression all too often leads to? That’s right, suicide.

Couple that with the impending economic crisis and the stresses that’s likely to cause and you have a perfect storm of suck brewing, the kind of suck that results in a number of more suicides.

And not all suicidal people will start with themselves, I’m afraid.

For some, this is a gun issue. They’ll argue that if he didn’t have the gun, he might not have killed Schriefer or himself. That’s just wishful thinking. This is a mental health issue and one we need to take very seriously. We will see more of it if we’re not very careful.

So, to all those reading this, I’m going to suggest you go outside if you can. Dig a garden bed or three (my personal therapy these days). Work out in the back yard. Go for a walk around the neighborhood while maintaining social distancing. Do something to minimize your chances of falling victim to vitamin D deficiency.

If you’re still depressed, talk to someone. Many mental health providers are seeing patients remotely, so look into it.

Whatever you do, don’t let it prey on you. Your loved ones deserve better.