1 INTRODUCTION
COVID-19 emerged as pneumonia of unknown etiology in a group of patients
with a connection to the Huanan South China Seafood Market in Wuhan,
China, in late 2019, and soon spread across the
world.1 Being much more widespread than Severe Acute
Respiratory Disorder Syndrome (SARS) in 2002, and Middle East
Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2012,2 COVID 19, which
is considered as the most common viral epidemic of our time, has spread
to more than 200 countries worldwide and has affected thousands of
people since its inception. The number of reported cases increases every
day and at the time of writing this study (03.06.2020), throughout the
world the number of confirmed cases has reached the number of 6.194.533
and 376.320 people died.3
The outbreak not only increased the risk of death from a viral infection
but also caused people to experience unbearable psychological
pressures.4 Before the declaration of any confirmed
cases in Turkey, images and videos which were spread via social media
and TV news have created a panic in Turkey as well as all over the
world. These images and videos displayed examples of abrupt falling and
deaths of people in the middle of the street, patients’ agony in
quarantine, and experiences of confluence during strife with the
prohibitions and restrictions, and the suffering of people who could not
see the funerals of their relatives.
Following the announcement of the first coronavirus case on March 11th,
2020, urgent measures were taken in order to prevent an outbreak by the
authorities in Turkey. Entries and exits to the country have been
forbidden and quarantine obligation has been introduced for the citizens
who come from abroad. Schools, including universities, were closed,
flexible working opportunities were provided in many public
institutions, and a social distance rule was established to minimize
contamination. People over the age of 65 and under 20 have been imposed
a curfew and in many provinces, the public has been made to comply with
this regulation on weekends. Also, public meetings were postponed,
intercity travel was stopped, and new rules have been introduced for
public transportation, markets, shopping malls, etc. The minister of
health shared the current information about the coronavirus cases with
the community every day and gave information about the precautionary
measures. However, despite all these precautions, thousands of people
were infected and many of our citizens died.
Many factors such as persistence of the epidemic in the world, the lack
of current treatment, and the uncertainty of the duration of the
measures taken brought forward the risk of being affected
psychologically. As a matter of fact, recent studies have shown that
struggling with this uncertainty as well as the physical effect of the
disease, economic-educational losses, etc. due to social isolation, may
decrease the communication among people and increase the rates of
depression and anxiety over time .4-7 Naturally, in an
extraordinary situation like a pandemic, acute psychological exposure
may be a foregone conclusion, but continuing the process may cause
permanent psychological and biological effects. Therefore, while
evaluating the pandemic, the detection of psychological problems, and
related factors that may develop; it is important to determine the
target audience, to take the necessary precautions, and to direct the
aid. In the light of this information, in this study, it is aimed to
determine the level of psychological impact and the factors that may be
related to the COVID-19 outbreak in Turkish society where precautionary
measures are still being implemented in the 6th week of the pandemic in
the country.