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.