Ongoing research being conducted by the same team has observed an increase in substance abuse generally among American adults since the start of the pandemic, according to Johannes Thrul, an assistant professor in the department of mental health at Johns Hopkins. "This pandemic is impacting our lives in so many ways, socially, financially and in [mental] health," Elizabeth A. Stuart, Bloomberg Professor of American Health at Hopkins, said during the Thursday call. Although some of the "initial spikes" in mental health issues seen at the start of the pandemic have started to flatten, they still haven't returned to pre-COVID levels, said Stuart, of Johns Hopkins.