Background: The Covid-19 pandemic is having a severe and unprecedented impact on human functioning, due to its influence on bodily functions and structures, the activities we participate in and the environments in which we live. The aim of this rapid review is to inform health services planning and decision making, by identifying and synthesizing the potential functional impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on human health and wellbeing.Methods: This rapid review was completed within four weeks during April – May 2020. The review focused on primary sources describing and evaluating the functional impact of the SARS, MERS and Covid-19 coronavirus pandemics, published since January 2000 in peer reviewed journal articles. All included sources were evaluated for quality, and the International Classification of Function provided a theoretical structure for synthesizing the available evidence.Results: A total of 65 sources met the inclusion criteria for this review. The majority (n=42, 61.6%) were related to the SARS pandemic, and originated from Asia for North America. Almost half of the reviewed sources (n=32, 49.2%) investigated the impact of coronavirus pandemics on the community, with smaller evidence bases related to people with coronaviruses and their families (n=19, 29.2%) and healthcare workers (n=17, 26.1%). Of the research sources available, the majority utilized descriptive quantitative methods via cross sectional data collection.The functional impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to spread far beyond infected patients, to influence the wellbeing of healthcare workers and the entire community in both positive and negative ways. The findings of this review indicate that health services must engage with the inter-sectionality of pandemic experiences, collaborate with other sectors as part of society-wide responses and prioritize function as a key outcome.Conclusions:Based on the experience of past coronavirus pandemics, and the experience to date of the current Covid-19 outbreak, every health service in all health systems must be prepared to prevent and manage the functional impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, possibly for decades to come. This review highlights the multitude of avenues available for health service prioritization and planning, and emphasized that a multi-dimensional, multi-service (and ideally multi-systems) approach is needed.

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