COVID-19

Question 1

How does COVID spread?

Answer 1

. Close contact, evidence of airborne transmission
. Crowds
. Fomite transmission, contaminated surfaces

Question 2

What are the pros of lockdown?

Answer 2

. Prevents the spread of Covid
. Protects the vulnerable
. Reduces the strain on the NHS, as cases will drop so less hospitalisations
. Followed best interests of the population

Question 3

What are the cons of lockdown?

Answer 3

. Being locked in your home can have many detrimental effects, especially with living alone or being abused at home
. Mental health has declined. Feelings of loneliness, depression and despair have increased
. People with underlying health problems were affected e.g delaying surgery or people who had yet to be diagnosed with cancer
. Economy has suffered greatly from it as non-essential businesses were closed

Question 4

How do the governments justify lockdown?

Answer 4

. Define lockdown and what the rationale was, as well as the measures imposed
. Cover both sides of the argument, showing pros and cons
. Mental health, social and medical aspects
. Show extra reading

Question 5

Scale of the mental health prolem

Answer 5

. Before COVID in the UK, 27% adults aged 50-80 reported feeling isolated and lonely. This was the hidden healthcare crisis
. During COVID 41% of people aged 50-80 felt this way, financial worries adding to the problem
. Increased levels of mental illnesses, 30% of the Uk reported a mental health disorder which hadn’t existed prior to April 2020

Question 6

How has COVID made the populations mental health worse?

Answer 6

. Physical isolation - no interaction with people can have detrimental effects (article)
. Social isolation - luckily for social media, people could talk but could actually been made worse because everyone was panicked and misinformation.
. Elderly most affected, less digitally connected and greater risk of mortality
. The closure of schools and other public places has had a detrimental effect on young people

Question 7

How would you support a person coping with mental health issues during lockdown?

Answer 7

. Identify the issue (impacts of isolation on the well-being of people)
. Take a holistic approach, look at all the ways you could act
. Use an example
. Work within your limits

Question 8

Medical disinformation

Answer 8

. Provide accurate information from certified websites like the NHS or government sources
. Be an advocate of scientific truth and prevent disinformation
. Make sure you’re knowledgeable enough on commonly understood topics
. Be aware of your environment, what is trending so that you can tackle it

Question 9

Power of social media

Answer 9

. Accessibility - highly accessible for readers and writer
. Trustworthiness - people assume content online is reliable and trustworthy without verifying the content
. Lack of background knowledge - not everybody has scientific knowledge

Question 10

Aspects of disinformation to consider

Answer 10

. Patient choice - they’re entitled to their own choices, views and opinions
. Patient knowledge - allow patient to present knowledge and understand the reasoning
. Avoid conflict and keep calm when discussing own views
. Think of patients environment and socioeconomic status

Question 11

Why is disinformation particularly on health matters so contagious?

Answer 11

. State one or two ideas about disinformation
. Mention key players like social media, trends and the news
. Prove your knowledge especially on COVID so give an example
. Discuss reasons it’s so contagious like exploiting peoples anxieties and looking credible at first.

Question 12

Should social media platforms face serious legal action if they don’t seriously combat COVID/ vaccine misinformation?

Answer 12

. yes because it can cause serious harm to people who then get covid, means more cases, more strain on NHS all because of unregulated content
. Not really realistic in a practical sense, you can’t stop everyone. Freedom of speech issue
. What legal action could even be taken-maybe only for viral posts or something being charged with public endangerment or something
. Conclude answers with for or against

Question 13

What does the NHS backlog consist of?

Answer 13

. The backlog refers to all patients waiting to access treatment or undergo procedures on the NHS
. Any delay in the delivery of care leads to an extra strain on the NHS backlog and on the well-being of the patient
. Due to the high level of admissions during COVID-19, the hospital has reached a level of backlog never seen before.

Question 14

How did COVID impact the backlog?

Answer 14

. Severe cases of COVID filled intensive care units which meant less priority given to other patients, contributed to backlog
. Because of the transmittability of covid, surgeries and treatments were delayed to stop the spread of the disease and also because people undergoing intese surgeries would be a great vulnerability and would need to be shielding
. There has been a lack of staff in hospitals due to sickness and burnout which also contributes

Question 15

Some forecasts predict the NHS waiting list could reach 13 million, what could be done to prevent this?

Answer 15

. Outline the problem, emphasising how much of a crisis it is
. Be realistic in your solutions
. Give examples on how to tackle the issues
. Be optimistic

Question 16

What are vaccines?

Answer 16

. Inactivated pathogens that are introduced to the body
. The vaccine triggers an immune response similar to that generated by the natural infection
. Hence, vaccines lead to the development of natural antibodies that can then fight against the targeted disease.
. Your body is then prepared for this disease and has the necessary antibodies to tackle it if you contract the real thing. It gives you a lessened immune response

Question 17

How are vaccines made and administered?

Answer 17

. Vaccines may contain a live microorganism, a dead one, a toxin or some surface antigens
. Vaccines can be given through an intramuscular injection or oral injection like polio
. Some vaccines require a single dose whereas others may need a booster to help further immune responses

Question 18

COVID vaccine types and how they were made.

Answer 18

. Pfizer and moderna vaccines use mRNA which are sequences coding for the proteins of the virus. The body then makes an S protein and presents it as cell antigens so that antibodies can be formed.
. Astra-Zeneca and Johnson&Johnson are vector vaccines. A modified version of the virus is placed into a vector virus which is then injected into the body. This will instruct your body to produce S proteins which are displayed on cells so that antibodies and defensive white blood cells can be made

Question 19

What are the advantages of the vaccine?

Answer 19

. An easy safe way to immunize the population against very severe disease
. It means less hospitalizations so fewer deaths and less pressure on the NHS
. Vaccines have helped eradicate diseases like smallpox
. Cheap to manufacture
. Make travelling available again

Question 20

What are the disadvantages of the vaccine?

Answer 20

. Some people may not develop an immune response, hence not becoming immune to it
. Other people may experience side effects from the vaccine in rare cases like thrombosis
. Although unlikely, some inactivated viruses can undergo a shift back to their active form, leading to infection

Question 21

What is Track and Trace?

Answer 21

. It’s the process of identifying all people that have come in contact with a positive covid case in the past 2 weeks
. It’s to control the R number (reproduction rate) and reduce the spread of infection, encouraging those who have been in contact to quarantine and test
. Many countries are using the phone app for it

Question 22

What are the ethical considerations of Track and Trace?

Answer 22

. Autonomy - the patient should have the right to make informed choices
. Justice - is it fair to be pinged by the track and trace for being next to someone in the supermarket
. Beneficence - does the Track and trace benefit patients care and wellbeing or could it be detrimental
. What are the implications of tracking the movement of the entire population?

Question 23

What is vaccine hesitancy?

Answer 23

It is the delay of acceptance or refusal of the vaccine despite the availability of it. This can be very context specific

Question 24

What are the 3 Cs of vaccine hesitancy?

Answer 24

. Complacency - low perceived risk of disease, other health issues are a greater priority
. Convenience - geographic accessibility, no time etc…
. Confidence - low levels of trust in vaccines and delivery of health professionals

Question 25

Who can tackle the problem?

Answer 25

. Healthcare professionals through safe advice and medical practice
. Goverment by schemes promoting uptake and public campaigns
. Public Health officials by raising awareness and encouraging the public
. The public by using social media and giving peer support to those that are hesitant

Question 26

How to approach vaccine hesitancy questions?

Answer 26

. Take a neutral side
. Validate the patient’s concerns, demonstrate empathy and open-mindedness
. Prove your own knowledge
. Stay calm, don’t impose your own biases

Question 27

What are vaccine passports?

Answer 27

. Vaccine passports are documents which prove that you’ve had your vaccine against covid 19
. They’ve been introduced to restore international travel for those who have been vaccinated
. Been in place for a long time, for vaccines like yellow fever

Question 28

Pros of vaccine passports

Answer 28

. Safety of public when returning to prepandemic activity
. Encourage vaccine uptake
. Protecting the NHS
. Preventing the spread

Question 29

Cons of the vaccine

Answer 29

. Patients are responsible for their own care and should make informed choices, some people could feel forced into it
. There could be socioeconomic, cultural or medical boundaries
. Could be exceptions to the vaccine
. Do all people have access to vaccines or does it increase inequality