Chu, Alam, Larson, Lin); 3 University of Washington (
Larson)
"Mass quarantines can lead to multidimensional social consequences and may potentially heighten existing disparities across various contexts."
Four billion people worldwide have experienced confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. This systematic review sought to identify (i) the social consequences of mass quarantine - that is, community-wide movement restrictions - during previous and current infectious disease outbreaks, and (ii) recommended strategies to mitigate the negative social implications of COVID-19 lockdowns.
Considering social determinants of health, the researchers conducted a systematic review by searching 5 databases (Ovid-MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and the World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 database) for publications from the inception of each database to April 9 2020. Of 3,067 publications found, 15 original peer-reviewed articles were selected for full-text extraction: 8 focused on the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak, 4 focused on the 2014-16 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreaks in Sierra Leone and Liberia, 2 focused on the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and 1 focused on the 2009/2010 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in Canada. The reported periods of quarantine varied from 7 days to 1 month.