COVID-19 effects on persons’ mental health depend on stage of pandemic – Health Minister

As positive cases of the coronavirus continue to decrease and restrictions are being lifted, persons are no longer confined to their homes. As such, citizens are no longer facing the challenges of anxiety and depression.

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, M.P. said the level of effects that COVID-19 has on a person’s mental wellbeing depends on the stage of the pandemic.

“It depends on what stage of the pandemic we’re looking at. I think at the beginning, when people were locked away because of the curfew and there were a lot of restrictions of movement, I think at that point in time people found it more challenging,” Minister Anthony said.

He said there is now a better understanding of the disease and the ministry has been able to give advice to reduce the anxiety among the population.

He said persons who recovered from COVID-19, but developed long-term effects – long COVID have shown symptoms including fatigue and brain fog.

This is something that we have to pay attention to, and that’s why the unit that we have set up for long COVID would be assessing these types of patients,” Dr. Anthony noted.

He is advising persons dealing with anxiety or long-COVID to visit the multidisciplinary team at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) to get examined and treated in a timely manner.

Meanwhile, the ministry continues its vaccination across the country. To date, 430, 877 adults took the first dose of a vaccine while 325, 696 people have been fully inoculated, while 49, 068 took their booster shot.

Regarding the 12 to 17 age group, 33, 411 children took the first dose, with 24, 058 taking both doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

Dr. Anthony said the Ministry of Health will be collaborating with the Ministry of Education to visit schools and encourage children to take the jab.

“We are going to have, with the Ministry of Education, some dedicated campaigns starting in March, where we’re going to be going out to schools to encourage vaccination,” he said.