Mitigating the wider health effects of covid-19 pandemic response

Abstract

Countries worldwide have implemented strict controls on movement in response to the covid-19 pandemic. The aim is to cut transmission by reducing close contact (box 1), but the measures have profound consequences. Several sectors are seeing steep reductions in business, and there has been panic buying in shops. Social, economic, and health consequences are inevitable. Box 1: Social distancing measures • Advising the whole population to self-isolate at home if they or their family have symptoms • Bans on social gatherings (including mass gatherings) • Stopping flights and public transport • Closure of "non-essential" workplaces (beyond the health and social care sector, utilities, and the food chain) with continued working from home for those that can • Closure of schools, colleges, and universities • Prohibition of all "non-essential" population movement • Limiting contact for special populations (eg, care homes, prisons) No commercial reuse: See rights and reprints

High excess mortality in areas with young and socially vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 outbreak in Stockholm Region, Sweden

“…Furthermore, the need to target interventions (eg, confinement, social distancing, active surveillance) and direct healthcare resources towards the subgroups at increased risk of developing the most severe forms of the disease is widely acknowledged. 22 While different models of stratified shielding have already been suggested, 23 24 these rarely account for contextual sociodemographic factors, which is likely to lead to poorly targeted public health responses that are not properly calibrated to the people or the areas involved. In this regard, tracking people’s individual characteristics and sociodemographic context might ease the implementation of effective preventive and containment strategies.…”

COVID-19 Pandemic: Home Confinement Problems and Mental Health

“…Moreover, some measures taken to achieve social distance (eg, school closings and working from home) during the COVID-19 crisis may have a great impact on women's daily life. On the one hand, women generally play the role of primary caregivers at home which is intensi ed during home con nement (Douglas et al, 2020). On the other hand, women feel more pressured by time than men when working from home (Belzunegui-Eraso & Erro-Garcés, 2020).…”

“…The mass home-con nement directives have assumed that activities that previously belonged to the outside world (e.g., work, school, gym) now have to be done at home (Houghton, 2020). The separation between the public and the private has disappeared, and it has put people near their family members all or most of the time, which may cause or exacerbate tensions (Douglas, Katikireddi, Taulbut, Mckee, & McCartney, 2020).…”

"Soup cans, brooms, and Zoom:" Rapid conversion of a cancer survivorship program to telehealth during COVID‐19

“…Survivors face a heightened sense of vulnerability to COVID-19, a higher perceived risk of disease complication, intensified fear of recurrence, anxiety around disruption of medical services, and reduced safe access to basic nutrition and physical activity. [3][4][5] Increased household demands, dependent care, and rising financial insecurity amplify the stress. Inequities across social groups add further suffering.…”

“…Inequities across social groups add further suffering. 5 Survivors need support more than ever to maintain health and well-being, experience connection, and face public health risks outside their control. The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Psycho-Oncology service sought to meet these needs by rapidly transferring the Survivorship Wellness Group Program (SWGP), 6…”