Trust is crucial in lockdown—and beyond

Abstract

Lockdown is preventing infections and reducing deaths from covid-19. But it brings its own profound consequences for health and wellbeing, as Margaret Douglas and colleagues report this week (doi:10.1136/bmj.m1557). Loss of income and education, unemployment, uncertainty, social isolation, and domestic violence are just some of the emerging negative outcomes of the mass closure of businesses and schools, with disproportionate effect on people with fewer resources and poorer health, they say. The long term harms, including increased social and health inequality, may well dwarf the death toll of covid-19 itself. Even in the short term, data indicate an excess of deaths not directly explained by covid-19, possibly because of investigations and treatments being postponed and patients not seeking necessary care. John Appleby says …