Late June brought news that the animated shows “The Simpsons,” “Family Guy,” “Big Mouth” and “Central Park” would recast characters of color who have been played by white actors.

A week later “Hamilton” dominated the cultural chatter on Independence Day weekend when Disney+ premiered the film version of the Broadway phenomenon.

In both situations performers inhabited characters of racial backgrounds that were different from their own, often referred to as “colorblind casting.” But one provoked the usual apologies and promises to do better while the other was celebrated anew as being a bold exemplar of diversity — though it ultimately presents a set of more complex concerns.

The condition, which is distinct from a heart attack, goes by several names, including stress cardiomyopathy or takotsubo syndrome. It occurs when a part of the heart becomes enlarged and is unable to pump blood effectively. Unlike a heart attack, which is caused by clogged arteries, broken heart syndrome is preceded by intense emotional or physical stress.

“The increase in socioeconomic and psychological stress from the pandemic has literally increased stress cardiomyopathy,” Dr. Ankur Kalra, one of the study’s co-authors and an interventional cardiologist in the section of Invasive and Interventional Cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic, said.

“This is not the health hazard from the virus” itself, said Kalra, who is also the section head for cardiovascular research at the Cleveland Clinic Akron General. “This is a new health hazard which the pandemic has caused because of other stressors that the pandemic has caused.

United Airlines Holdings Inc. UAL -1.08% said it could be forced to shed almost half its U.S. workforce, telling 36,000 employees on Wednesday that they could be furloughed from Oct. 1 because of the pandemic-driven slump in passenger demand.

Chicago-based United is the first major U.S. carrier to detail possible mass furloughs despite the billions of dollars in federal aid provided to airlines that covered payrolls through September.

A senior executive called the move “a last resort.” It follows the recent erosion of the fragile improvement in demand from April’s low, after a pickup in Covid-19 cases in some states and new quarantine measures in the New York City area and Chicago that have kept fliers from resuming travel.