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Impact of Covid-19 on Healthcare

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Impact of Covid-19 on Healthcare

Introduction

Covid-19 was first identified in Wuhan City, Hubei province, China, in December 2019. The

World Health Organization categorizes Covid-19 as a highly infectious disease that is caused by

the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Covid-19 pandemic shocked the world to the core. Patel et al.

(2020) opine, "The emergence of Covid-19 was more than a health crisis, it crippled nearly every

other aspect of our normal lives necessitating the World Health Organization to declare it as a

pandemic.” Similarly, Gupta et al. (2021) contend, "The coronavirus pandemic is identified and

categorized as one of the defining health crises of our time and the greatest challenge humans

have faced since World War II.”

Conjunctively, the Covid-19 pandemic changed how the world provided health care. It had

far-reaching impacts on the availability of healthcare infrastructure to cater for essential

healthcare services such as cancer and led to the invention of new medication and treatment

strategies, including new testing procedures. Covid-19 affects the physical and mental health of

patients, families, and healthcare professionals (Gupta et al., 2021). Additionally, the virus

presents long-term effects to its victims such as organ damage to the heart and kidney and

incidences of fatigue and shortness of breath (Lopez-Leon et al., 2021).

The World Health Organization has reported more than 6 606 624 deaths, over 636 440 663

confirmed Covid-19 cases, and 14.9 million active cases (WHO, 2022). The pandemic is still

sending shock waves across the globe. Therefore, this review will identify and critically analyze

the effects and impact of Covid-19 on the healthcare sector.

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Medication Strategies and Treatment Options

Preventive Strategies

The occurrence of Covid-19 necessitated austerity measures and revitalization of the available

treatment and preventive options to curtail the disease, which was fast spreading. Preventive

measures are classified as eliminative measures which aim to entirely halt the spreading of the

virus and mitigation strategies that attempt to flatten the curve and lessen the effects of Covid-19

in society (Livermore, 2021). However, Livermore (2021) argues, "It is not realistic to eliminate

a disease like SARS-C0V-2, any more than it is to eliminate the flu or the common cold.”

Social distancing became the new norm from downtown New York to all corners of the

world in the early onset of Covid-19. Preventive measures such as wearing masks, quarantining

those exposed, avoiding touching their nose, mouth or eyes with unwashed hands, improving

infiltration, and washing hands became the daily routine. Moreover, at present vaccination

programs have been rolled out to mitigate the adverse effects of the virus and stop its spread

(WHO, 2022).

Public health mitigation measures for Covid-19 to prevent the spreading of the disease include

the introduction of lockdowns, travel restriction measures to and from countries experiencing

higher prevalence, closure, and restriction of businesses to operate within a certain framework,

tracing and quarantining the infected and closure of schools (WHO, 2022).

Treatment Options

There was the invention of new treatment options to complement the existing ones, as

initially, there were no specific drugs to treat the virus. Drug treatment options at the moment are

categorized into antiviral, which targets specific parts of the virus to prevent it from proliferating
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in the body. Monoclonal antibodies, which help the immune structure recognize the virus and

respond positively to it. The drugs include Evusheld, which helps to protect one from acquiring

the virus. Over-the-counter medications such as ibuprofen treat mild COVID-19 symptoms.

Others are Paxlovid, Remdesivir, Bebtelovimab and Molnupiravir (CDC, 2022).

Inventions

New inventions that integrated the use of technology were made to help in fighting the virus.

For instance, nasal swabs and ventilator parts were printed through 3D reverse engineering

technology. Face shields, protective gowns, and masks were mass-produced using locally

sourced materials. Other novel inventions include ear savers and ventilator splitters (Cavalcanti

et al., 2021).

Diversion of Health Care Infrastructure to Covid-19

The Coronavirus advanced rapidly and seemed to overwhelm the existing healthcare

infrastructure. There was a short supply of protective equipment to fight the disease. Resources

were diverted from palliative care situations such as cancer to fight Covid-19. Across the globe

hospital, visits declined due to restrictive guidelines. For instance, in the United States of

America and Spain, there was a 38% and 40% decline in hospital visits for patients associated

with heart attack conditions (Garcia et al., 2020). People were dying because they were scared of

visiting hospitals (McFarling, 2020). People with health complications such as stroke were less

likely to visit the hospital.

Physical and Mental Health

Covid-19 impacted the mental health of healthcare professionals and those of family, friends,

and patients. This was due to increased mortality rates and workload despite understaffing of
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essential healthcare providers. Gupta et al. (2021), in their dossier, 'Impact of Covid-19

Pandemic on Healthcare Works,' propounds, “At the height of Covid-19, research showed high

rates of burnout, psychological stress and suicidal thoughts from healthcare personnel. Increased

anxiety and stress led to negative effects on both self-efficacy and sleep.”

In March 2020, up to 40% of doctors in China had mild-to-moderate depressive symptoms.

Surprisingly, frontline healthcare workers were found to be less stressed, and they were less

worried about being infected. The stress prevalence was higher in younger physicians, more so

those aged 35 years and below than old doctors (Gupta et al., 2021).

Luo et al. (2020) propound that there exists a nexus between respiratory diseases, Covid-19,

and stress. He highlights that a mental crisis is in the offing and healthcare workers are highly

predisposed to mental illness due to a high workload and the associated risk of working as

frontline health workers. The most prevalent healthcare outcomes affecting healthcare personnel

and the general public are post-traumatic disorders at 27.6%, anxiety at 26.9%, depression at

21.8%, and others at 23.7%.

Additionally, Covid-19 precipitated stress levels to higher levels due to disruptions it had on

social, economic, and political aspects. This is was due to school closures, restricted social space,

isolation of infected individuals, loss of loved ones, closure of business, and restricted operation

timelines (WHO, 2022).

Associated Long-Term Effects

Covid-19 treatment strategies have been related to having long-term effects, including mental

stress, which has been discussed above. There are more than 50 known long-term effects of

Coronavirus (Lopez-Leon et al., 2021). According to Lopez-Leon et al. (2022), “Covid-19 can
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involve persistence, sequelae, and other medical complications that last weeks after initial

recovery.” She identifies the top most common symptoms to include fatigue (58%), headache

(44%), attention disorder (27%), hair loss (25%), and dyspnea (24%). The study reported that

fatigue was the most common symptom of acute and long Covid-19. It was reported to be

present even after 100 days of acute Covid-19.

Conclusion

As analyzed above, there is no iota of doubt that Covid-19 was more than a health crisis.

Primarily, it had far-reaching health implications, both short term, and long term, which

necessitated the world to have a paradigm shift on how it attends to its healthcare, that is,

infrastructure and allocation of resources. There were increased stress levels, loss of lives and

livelihood, and on a positive note, new drugs and treatment equipment such as ventilators were

introduced.

Therefore, it is prudent that the effects of Covid-19 calls for greater responsibility from all

stakeholders to attend to these challenges, as Covid-19 is here to stay with us. There is a need to

create awareness of managing stress levels for frontline health workers and increase resources to

expand and develop health infrastructure to attend to future pandemics.

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References

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