Introductory statement on impact of COVID-19 during the lock down of 2020

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by a novel coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus was first identified during an outbreak of severe respiratory illnesses in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, and reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31, 2019. On January 30, 2020, the WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global health emergency, and on the 11th of March, 2020, WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. (1)

The clinical picture of COVID-19 ranges from asymptomatic, through mild respiratory tract infections and influenza-like illness such as fever, cough, and fatigue, to severe disease with accompanying lung injury, multi-organ failure, and death (2, 3, 4). The leading cause of mortality for SARS-CoV-2 is respiratory failure from acute respiratory distress syndrome. (5)

As at January 2022, there were 299,125,483 cases and 5,486,236 deaths due to COVID-19 in the world. This amounts to 38,375 cases/million population; and 703.8 deaths/m population. (6) In the United States alone, there were 58,845,285 cases and 853,922 deaths; amounting to 176,218 cases/m population and 2,557 deaths/m population. (6)

During the onset of the pandemic, there were problems with availability of tests to confirm infection and diagnosis in both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. There were shortages of protective gadgets including masks for the population and personal protective equipment for hospital workers and first responders. There were problems with providing appropriate guidelines for protecting the general populace from infection at work, school, and social gatherings, and in public transportation. There were also no effective drugs for the treatment of symptomatic individuals or prophylaxis for the general populace. There were no vaccines for protecting the populace from infection. As a result, health workers and families were helpless to offer the best treatment options for the severely sick.

In order to significantly decrease the rate of infection and death, several mandates including masking, safe distancing, school closures and lockdowns were enacted and enforced from the Spring of 2020. In spite of the mandates and efforts by various governments worldwide to ameliorate the situation, COVID-19 still produced significant impacts on every facet of life in every part of the world. This includes its impact on the economy, sports, business, education, healthcare, jobs, social interaction, mental health, homelessness, poverty and marginalization of individuals, hopelessness, culture, religious gathering, human isolation, politics, burial rituals and medicine among others.
Volume 10 of IHE, is therefore devoted to capturing and documenting the impact of COVID-19 on some aspect of our lives during the lockdown that resulted from the preventive measures aimed at keeping people safe from infection and death.

References

1. AJMC staff. A timeline of COVID-19 developments in 2020. Available from: https://www.ajmc.com/view/a-timeline-of-covid19-developments-in-2020
2. Guan WJ, Ni ZY, Hu Y, Liang WH, Ou CQ, He JX, Liu L, Shan H, Lei CL, Hui DSC, Du B, Li LJ, Zeng G, Yuen KY, Chen RC, Tang CL, Wang T, Chen PY, Xiang J, Li SY, Wang JL, Liang ZJ, Peng YX, Wei L, Liu Y, Hu YH, Peng P, Wang JM, Liu JY, Chen Z, Li G, Zheng ZJ, Qiu SQ, Luo J, Ye CJ, Zhu SY, Zhong NS, China Medical Treatment Expert Group for Covid-19. 2020. Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. N Engl J Med 382:1708–1720. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2002032
3. Fu L, Wang B, Yuan T, Chen X, Ao Y, Fitzpatrick T, Li P, Zhou Y, Lin YF, Duan Q, Luo G, Fan S, Lu Y, Feng A, Zhan Y, Liang B, Cai W, Zhang L, Du X, Li L, Shu Y, Zou H. 2020. Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Infect 80:656–665. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinf.2020.03.041.
4. Synowiec A, Szczepanski A, Barreto-Duran E, Lie LK, Pyrc K. 2021. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2): a systemic infection. Clin Microbiol Rev 34:e00133-20. https://doi.org/10.1128/CMR .00133-20.
5. Ruan Q, Yang K, Wang W, Jiang L, Song J. 2020. Clinical predictors of mortality due to COVID-19 based on an analysis of data of 150 patients from Wuhan. Intensive Care Med 46:846–848. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-020-05991-x
6. Worldometer. Coronavirus: Reported cases and deaths by country and territory. Available from: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/