Items

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  2021-04-11

  Indirect acute effects on physical and mental health

  This academic article is in the Lancet, a medical journal. I chose this because it is public, unlike some academic articles, and it is, as of right now, a pretty unique research article. Although it is done in the UK, it reviewed medical records, both physical and mental, from 2017 to 2020. The changes are a little surprising, as the largest reductions in health care at the start of the restrictions were diabetic emergencies, depression, and self-harm. This is something I have seen a lot in my research into the unintended consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mental illness is the last thing to be cared for in a pandemic, or even in other natural disasters. The consequences on human health from this pandemic are only just now coming to light. This journal entry covers in-depth research and I highly suggest it.
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  2021-04-11

  Postponing Basic Health Care During the Pandemic

  I have been researching the unintended consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. One consequence that interests me the most is people missing important specialist appointments for things like heart disease or cancer. I would have assumed that it would be the lower class skipping these appointments the most due to the fact that is many cases it is already harder for lower class people to get to regular appointments. But this article proves my thought wrong, and states that the lower and middle class people have less opportunity to miss these appointments. They tend to have more healthcare problems, according to the article, and therefore need the appointments more. In addition, the numbers might reflect the fact that lower income people don't go to the doctor as much as higher income people in general, therefore the numbers were low to begin with. The article is a very interesting read and I highly suggest it.
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  2021-03-28

  Unintended Consequences of Lockdown

  I am researching the unintended consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article is an in-dept look on the consequences of lockdown in the US. While the article covers positive consequences like less pollution and less contagious diseases like the flu, I am going to talk about some of the ones related to my research. The article says most “unintended consequences fall generally into five categories: lack of care, isolation, wealth/health loss, psychological harm, and harm to children.” Lack of care includes people who do not feel comfortable going to the doctor or hospital for fear of catching COVID-19. The amount of people who went in for a severe heart attack has dropped by 40%. Isolation consequences include things like an increased rate of suicidal thoughts and an increase in drug overdoses. Wealth and health loss is due to loss of income, and as evidence shows, poverty is deadly. Psychological harm involves burnouts and stress related breakdowns, as well as mental health disorders and insomnia. The harm to children section includes many heartbreaking statistics about lack of school based mental health care, sexual abuse, drug use, and neglect. The article talks about how the effects of all of this may not be known for many years, but it is clear there have been many negative consequences of lockdowns due to the pandemic.
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  2021-03-21

  How does the pandemic affect children?

  This link provided showcases the severity of the pandemic's effect on children's mental health and it becoming the next "wave" in the pandemic
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  2020-09-04

  Precautions and Code of Student Conduct at St. Mary's University during COVID- 19 Pandemic

  This email is relevant and important because it is a clear example of how life as a St. Mary's University Student has changed. The email discusses the precautions the students and faculty should be taking in order to ensure the health and safety of everyone at St. Mary's. The email also lays out the possible consequences for students (especially on campus) who aren't following the rules in the Code of Student Conduct relating to these COVID Precautions. As I am a student with all online classes, living at home- therefore I am not on campus- this email does not affect me in a huge way. I am also not going to any in-person classes however, I think it is great that these precautions be enforced and closely monitored as the health of other students and professors or faculty who are on campus may be jeopardized. It is important that students learn to respect others and that they understand that their actions can affect a large group of people and not just them.
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  2020-03-20

  The Crown Diary day 3

  How I felt and reacted to the situation
• 
  2020-04-12

  Planning is everything

  Although at one time we had the mechanisms in place to deal with a pandemic, those resources were disbanded for short sighted financial and political reasons. So, we were woefully unprepared for this pandemic. Lack of leadership worsened the situation and even exasperated the problem with negligence and outright misinformation. The long term consequences will be catastrophic. Personally I am frustrated every day as the death toll rises and the whole planet suffers. This would have been a bad thing at best, and is being made much worse by the lack of credible leadership.