The COVID 19 pandemic has caused a lot of uncertainty and fears more so due to the discovery of a new variant Omicron. The Omicron variant spreads more easily than the original COVID 19 variant and how easily Omicron spreads compared to Delta remains unknown.

CDC reports that current vaccines are expected to protect against severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths due to infection with the Omicron variant. However, breakthrough infections in people who are fully vaccinated are likely to occur. With other variants, like Delta, vaccines have remained effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations, and death. The recent emergence of Omicron further emphasizes the importance of vaccination and boosters.

Covid-19 Background

Covid-19 affects and influences social, psychological, community and workplace settings in four key ways:-

First is the physical implication - Individuals become infected with COVID 19 from exposure to a positively tested person or from being in a social setup without their knowledge.

Second is the burden of our healthcare systems. Delta variant was known to cause more infections and would spread faster than early forms of COVID 19 which resulted in patients significantly outweighing health workers. As a result, facilities become over-extended and thus increased internal facility virus spread and community health hazards.

Third, Covid-19 effects are a result of media 'over' coverage if unchecked raises fear and leads to behavior changes and increase in deaths over other medical conditions for fear of visiting hospital for checkup or diagnosis.

Fourth, Covid-19 impacts influenced lock downs across the region and many countries put this in place to cab the spread of COVID 19 which has significantly impacted economic conditions, unemployment and social behaviors.

Re-Opening and Anxiety Post COVID 19
Many countries have introduced strict measures upon reopening of social settings in the community, such as bars and restaurants, schools and businesses. The worry however is that these set guidelines are not being followed to the latter with people still crowding and not wearing facemasks as should be.

Healthcare Employee Psychological Impacts
There are several psychological impacts from Covid-19. Healthcare employees are at increased level of potential exposures and future waves of infection. The effects of Covid-19 also impact drive and organizational pledge.

More resources on COVID 19 are available at our website. DocSun∙Computation∙MedLab∙Ltd∙mission∙is∙using∙technology∙to∙create∙life-long∙ Solutions.