COVID-19 Flashcards
How does COVID spread?
. Close contact, evidence of airborne transmission
. Crowds
. Fomite transmission, contaminated surfaces
What are the pros of lockdown?
. 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
What are the cons of lockdown?
. 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
How do the governments justify lockdown?
. 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
Scale of the mental health prolem
. 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
How has COVID made the populations mental health worse?
. 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
How would you support a person coping with mental health issues during lockdown?
. 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
Medical disinformation
. 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
Power of social media
. 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
Aspects of disinformation to consider
. 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
Why is disinformation particularly on health matters so contagious?
. 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.
Should social media platforms face serious legal action if they don’t seriously combat COVID/ vaccine misinformation?
. 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
What does the NHS backlog consist of?
. 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.
How did COVID impact the backlog?
. 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
Some forecasts predict the NHS waiting list could reach 13 million, what could be done to prevent this?
. 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
What are vaccines?
. 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
How are vaccines made and administered?
. 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
COVID vaccine types and how they were made.
. 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
What are the advantages of the vaccine?
. 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
What are the disadvantages of the vaccine?
. 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
What is Track and Trace?
. 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
What are the ethical considerations of Track and Trace?
. 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?
What is vaccine hesitancy?
It is the delay of acceptance or refusal of the vaccine despite the availability of it. This can be very context specific
What are the 3 Cs of vaccine hesitancy?
. 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
Who can tackle the problem?
. 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
How to approach vaccine hesitancy questions?
. 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
What are vaccine passports?
. 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
Pros of vaccine passports
. Safety of public when returning to prepandemic activity
. Encourage vaccine uptake
. Protecting the NHS
. Preventing the spread
Cons of the vaccine
. 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
