COVID-19 Pandemic: Reflexions from East Europe

Abstract

The pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV-2 affected most countries and united the polarized world. In spite of sharing the experiences, the data show there are differences and specificities across regions. The number of infected persons and death toll show that wealthy, developed nations were not more prepared than low income, developing countries, to deal with major stress of the pandemic. The aim of this paper is to reflect on possible psychosocial causes of these differences. The emergency states were introduced rather early in countries of East Europe, with strict restrictive measures that seem to be critical. Mental health care considerably changed during the pandemic and was mostly neglected as was the usual somatic care of people, with intention to prevent collapse of not well-developed health system. There are many lessons to be learned from the pandemic. A long-term planning and management measures should be prepared for a possible second wave as well as for new outbreaks that might affect humanity. A particular emphasis should be paid on the importance of preservation of mental health, widely neglected during the pandemic, as well as to a comprehensive psychosocial approach to affected communities.