Pandemic Tunnel Vision: Hidden Health, Social, and Economic Costs of the COVID-19 Public Health Response
A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Economics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (7 March 2023) | Viewed by 5927
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Almost without exception the worldwide public health response to the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and the resulting COVID-19 pandemic has focused exclusively on reducing morbidity and mortality from COVID-19, with relatively little attention paid to the accompanying costs of such a response. Lockdowns and other public health measures designed to reduce exposure to and transmission of the virus have numerous externalities. For example, “deaths of despair” such as suicides and drug overdoses are strongly correlated with increases in social isolation and economic stress, both hallmarks of the COVID-19 pandemic magnified by the public health response. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 2020 saw a record high number of drug overdose deaths in the United States. As these and other hidden or indirect costs of the pandemic have added up over time, it has become necessary to examine them more carefully. This special issue will address the hidden health, social, and economic costs of the pandemic, as well as the costs of the pandemic response. We anticipate submissions will include (but not be limited to) the following topics:
- Delays in cancer screenings/treatments
- Changes in access to standard care
- Educational impacts of school closures
- Mental health impacts among youth, including suicides
- Mental health impacts among older adults
- Nutritional/food insecurity impacts
- Changes in drug use/abuse
- Changes in domestic violence and/or adverse childhood experiences
- Health economics of widespread business closures and unemployment.
Dr. Sean G. Young
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- COVID-19
- pandemic response
- cost-benefit analysis
- mental health
- drug abuse
- cancer screening/care
- health economics
