Societal response to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global public health crisis with respect to its effects on economic, physical and mental health. While early lockdown guidelines may have been effective for reducing viral transmission, prolonged quarantine and physical distancing measures have augmented the disparities underlying the determinants of health. Factors driving viral transmission are rooted in the pervasive social and economic inequalities in society. The aggregate effects of rapid economic downturn, as well as physical and mental morbidity and mortality, are reported to increase the risk of suicide. Furthermore, students, women and individuals with pre-existing mental health illness(es) are at an increased risk for poor mental health outcomes as a result of decreased social support and gaps in healthcare access. Additionally, individuals with a mental illness are more likely to contract COVID-19 and experience a more severe illness trajectory due to overlapping biological mediators. Taken together, public health policies should target upstream factors that target the determinants of ill health.

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