Delayed Mental Health Impacts of COVID-19 and Confinement Strategy: Distillates of a Prospective Study from North Kashmir

Background: Since December 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed mankind into a whirlpool of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. There has been a ‘Covidization’of medical literature. Despite abundant studies on immediate mental health impacts, there is a dearth of literature on work related to delayed impacts of Covid-19 on mental health. This facet of delayed mental health impacts needs characterization and quantification, for, putting in place a framework of working guidelines to tackle such mental health issues in case of any future health catastrophes

Aim: To gauge the delayed mental health impacts on the inmates who were discharged from a confinement facility in Kashmir. The interactions were conducted on mobile phones.

Methods: A primary care physician and his associates, who were actively involved in the care of inmates at the confinement facility, followed up the consenting inmates at 6-8 weeks after discharge by way of mobile call interactions. Questionnaire-based thematic queries were put to the participants and responses were recorded. This confinement facility was an isolation–quarantine ‘Covid Care’ Centre of Associated Hospital, Government Medical College, Baramulla in North Kashmir for most months of the year 2020.

Results: The data was collected, collated and analyzed. Various qualitative and quantitative inferences were generated. Certain suggestions/ recommendations were also presented.