The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG—On March 26, the Walla Walla County Sheriff’s Office responded to reports of an unresponsive male in the basement of a home on Main Street in Waitsburg.

Undersheriff Joe Klundt said that the situation appeared to be a suicidal incident, and no further information was available from the Sheriff's Office.

Suicide rates across the nation have risen with the COVID-19 pandemic. Information presented by the Johns Hopkins Psychiatry Guide (JHPG) indicates that suicide rates have increased with prior pandemics; an increase was reported after the 1918-19 Spanish Flu pandemic, and was...