Many health experts are concerned that the COVID-19 pandemic could be having widespread effects on people's mental health, but assessing these concerns is difficult without data.

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"Traditional public health surveillance lacks the agility to provide on-demand insights. As a result, when public leaders need real time data to inform their responses to COVID-19's mental health burdens, all that can be mustered is theoretical speculation," said Dr. John W. Ayers who specializes in monitoring the health needs of the public.

As it turns out, a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine led by Dr. Ayers and Dr. Alicia L. Nobles of the Center for Data Driven Health at the Qualcomm Institute within the University of California San Diego in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, Barnard College, and Institute for Disease Modeling, finds evidence of a record high in potential anxiety attacks or panic attacks through Google searches.