As the coronavirus pandemic has swept across America, so has an epidemic of depression, a new study shows.

Since the pandemic began, the prevalence of depression symptoms has roughly tripled, with the poor who lost jobs and savings most affected, researchers report.

“People with lower income were twice as likely to have depression, and people with the same income but who had less savings were 1.5 times more likely to have depression,” said lead researcher Catherine Ettman, director of strategic development at Boston University’s School of Public Health.

“We were surprised at the high levels of depression,” she said. “These rates were higher than what we’ve seen in the general population after other large-scale traumas like September 11 and Hurricane Katrina.”

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