Internet Searches for Acute Anxiety During the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Internet Searches for Acute Anxiety During the Early Stages of the COVID-19 PandemicThere is widespread concern that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may harm population mental health, chiefly owing to anxiety about the disease and its societal fallout. 1 But traditional population mental health surveillance (eg, telephone surveys, medical records) is time consuming, expensive, and may miss persons who do not participate or seek care.To evaluate the association of COVID-19 with anxiety on a population basis, we examined internet searches 2 indicative of acute anxiety during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.