Mother whose son died of a drug overdose during coronavirus lockdown opens up on her son's death
Due to the COVID lockdowns, Steven Manzo was laid off from his job at a Michigan bar in mid-March; Joanne Manzo joins Raymond Arroyo on 'The Ingraham Angle.'
A mother whose son died of a drug overdose during coronavirus lockdowns told the “Ingraham Angle” on Wednesday that she “most definitely” thinks isolation caused his death.
Steven Manzo, who suffered from depression, spent much of his early 20s struggling with a drug addiction, but recovered with the help of family and friends. Manzo, who worked as a cook and bartender in Michigan, was laid off in mid-March due to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders.
“I keep looking out my window and everything looks normal, but it doesn't feel normal,” Manzo told The Washington Post in an interview on March 20.
“I live downtown with bars and restaurants and nobody is here,” he added.
Two weeks after that interview, Manzo died of a drug overdose, which host Raymond Arroyo pointed out was his first relapse in eight years.
Suspected overdoses jumped 42 percent in May, according to data obtained by The Washington Post.
COVID-19 PANDEMIC CAUSED 18 PERCENT IN US DEATHS: STUDY
Joanne Manzo told Arroyo that a few days after her son lost his job he came to her house and told her “that he’s not going to be able to handle this lockdown.”
“He is not one to be shut in and he knew right from the start he wasn’t going to be able to handle it,” she said.
In May, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar penned a Washington Post op-ed in which he discussed reopening the economy, saying the lockdown is having a negative effect on Americans.
"By being locked in and shut away, we're denying ourselves critical health care services and the economic and social dislocation from being shut down is leading to mental illness and suicide risk," Azar told “Bill Hemmer Reports” in May.
"So this country's got to get back to work. We've got to get back to school. We've got to get back to living,” he added.
Arroyo asked Manzo on Wednesday if she agrees with Azar.
“Yes, most definitely,” she said in response. “I know four people that died within one week of an overdose the same time my son passed.”
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“We’re in a crisis right now,” she added.
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