When health professionals look death in the eye: the mental health of professionals who deal daily with the 2019 coronavirus outbreak.

BACKGROUND: The fact that COVID-19 is transmissible from human to human and associated with high morbidity and potentially fatality can intensify the perception of personal danger. In addition, the foreseeable shortage of supplies and an increasing flow of suspected and real cases of COVID-19 contribute to the pressures and concerns of health professionals. METHOD: The studies were identified in well-known international journals found in two electronic databases: Scopus and Embase. The data were cross-checked with information from the main international newspapers. RESULTS: Work-related stress is a potential cause of concern for health professionals. It has been associated with anxiety including multiple clinical activities, depression in the face of the coexistence of countless deaths, long work shifts with the most diverse unknowns and demands in the treatment with patients with COVID-19. Therefore, it is an important indicator of psychic exhaustion. CONCLUSIONS: As coronavirus cases increase and deaths surge in Italy, new figures show an "enormous" level of contagion among the country's medical personnel. At least 2,629 health workers have been infected with coronavirus since the outbreak onset in February, representing 8.3% of total cases. The percentage of infected health workers has almost doubled the number registered in China throughout the epidemic. Intensive care unit physicians are on their stress limit, especially when dealing with older patients and with death prospects. Doctors, not a relative, are inevitably the last people a dying COVID-19 patient will see.

When basic supplies are missing, what to do? Specific demands of the local street population in times of coronavirus - a concern of social psychiatry.

BACKGROUND: Homeless experts and some federal housing officials are sounding the alarm that the patchwork of government efforts to address the coronavirus outbreak risks leaving out one group of acutely vulnerable people: the homeless. In terms of isolation, it is too unclear what that looks like if you normally sleep on the streets. In this tough moment, when people should be turned away, not only it feels inhumane, but it is also a big public health risk, because where are they going to go? METHOD: The studies were identified using large-sized newspapers with international circulation RESULTS: With more cities suspecting community transmission of the novel coronavirus, people who sleep in shelters or hunker down outside already have a lower life expectancy and often have underlying health conditions that put them at greater risk if they develop COVID-19 (Global News, 2020). These people face lack of sleep, malnutrition, and "extreme stress levels just to meet their daily needs", all of which weakens the immune system. Along with mental illness or substance abuse disorders, they are "incredibly vulnerable to this virus". CONCLUSIONS: Health organizations are well aware of the risks involved in mental health. A large population of homeless people experience their pain and psychological distress intermittently. For low-income patients, the various borderline situations related to health/illness involve growing expectations regarding the basic needs. This is a serious concern when linked to the pandemic.