COVID-19 pandemic and its cross-cultural impact on physical and mental health

Dr. Sohini Banerjee, Independent Health Researcher and Consultant, India moderated the session. The nearly two-hour long session (08:30 PM to 10:15 PM IST) was attended by more than 150 participants.

The session started with the address by Dr. Suchandra Chakravarty, Teacher-in-Charge, The Bhawanipur Education Society College. Dr. Chakravarty welcomed everyone stressing the need for such a topical discussion. Speaking on behalf of all the participants and guests, she expressed her concerns about the consistently rising graph of COVID-19 cases while highlighting the unnecessary hype in the news media, which is sometimes misleading. A strong belief in scientific progress and technological advancement that would guide everyone out of the crisis was also expressed in Dr. Chakravarty’s address. Following her, Ms. Debanjana Chakravarti, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, The Bhawanipur Education Society College, introduced Dr. Sohini Banerjee, the moderator for the evening. Dr. Banerjee then introduced and coordinated with the speakers, starting with Dr. Sudeshna Ray Sengupta.

Dr. Ray Sengupta, in her talk, explained the structure of the SARS-CoV-2 (the novel coronavirus causing the disease COVID-19). The genetic material of the virus, she elaborated, is encased in a layer of fat called the lipid covering. This lipid covering has a high susceptibility to soap water, which Dr. Ray Sengupta stressed to be an essential component in prevention of contamination. Mapping a brief trajectory of the coronavirus from China to India, she then explained the concept of reproduction number ‘R’ for COVID-19. ‘R’ value is a key parameter and helps to determine rate of infection. Dr. Ray Sengupta linked the ‘R’ value with the graph of cases of COVID-19, following some calculations from early April to mid-July, 2020. If the ‘R’ value moves around 1.10 consistently, the graph will be flattened and if kept consistently below 1, then it will gradually go down. The symptoms and transmissibility of the disease were also explained, stressing the roles of droplets of saliva and fomites (objects, materials and surfaces getting touched with non-sanitised hands of an infected person and thus actively taking part in transmission). 

Dr. Sudeshna Ray Sengupta delivering her talk

Following this discussion, Dr. Banerjee invited the next speaker, Dr. Prama Chakravarti, with a question on the impact of the COVID-19 on children’s mental health, as the lockdown on one hand prevented them to go to school and socialise and on the other hand, curriculum continuing via virtual classes implied a regular study from home. Dr. Chakravarti explained how in the USA, the children with existing acting out behaviour, ADHD and other mental health problems, were most affected in this scenario. She elaborated on the physiological aspects related with virtual learning. The frontal lobe of the brain controls executive functions which determines the planning and organisational skills of an individual. Since the site in the brain responsible for these issues are not fully developed until children are in their late teen ages or early twenties, the methods and results of virtual learning for the young students are often not matching the expectations. This, as Dr. Chakravarti suggested, was the scenario for students belonging to almost every age group in the USA. 

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Dr. Prama Chakravarti delivering her talk

Responding to a question on prevention of suicidal tendencies, Dr. Chakravarti mentioned the need to understand various red flags like social withdrawal, changes in sleeping and eating patterns, and verbalisations of death wishes. The unpredictability of self-harm and suicides should also be kept in mind and open questions should be asked if someone checks the red flags. She gave an example from the children in USA whose friends from school often act as ally to their parents to check in on someone prone to self-harm. Though there is a high need of seeking professional help, Dr. Chakravarti also insisted to monitor if someone had any access to something that is potentially lethal.

Dr. Moon-Moon Majumdar delivering her talk

Responding to a question from Dr. Banerjee on the reason of a very low and steady death rate in India, Dr. Majumdar told that a specific reason was not yet discovered and that one could only speculate about specific difference in the Indian population and about the importance of immunity in the people of rural India. But she also mentioned a study that showed there was a spike in the number of deaths from March to May 2020 than that calculated in the same period in the previous years. Giving examples from Indonesia and Ecuador, she highlighted that though the deaths officially related to COVID-19 were very little with respect to the total death count, the total spike itself was alarming and the reason for this has not yet been determined. 

Questions about Dr. Majumdar’s own experience in the intensive care and also about the state of mental health of the professionals were raised by Dr. Banerjee and Dr. Chakravarti respectively. To this, Dr. Majumdar recounted how she had to attend to a very high number of patients under ventilators – 400% more than the usual. She also found it very frustrating when she saw individuals not following the basic hygienic practices and preventive measures as she returned home. The availability of clinical psychologists to talk about the problems of the healthcare professionals on an individual scale was also highlighted by Dr. Majumdar, as she also mentioned people’s initiatives in organising painting sessions and book clubs.

Dr. Banerjee then turned to Dr. Ray Sengupta asking her about the potential protective measures for people who have limited resources. To this, she replied that in a densely populated country like India, there cannot be a single absolute safety measure for all. She talked about how assurances from healthcare providers could help in preventing the transmission of COVID-19. For direct combat, she advised to wash hands for 20 senconds with normal soap water if hand sanitiser (with 70% alcohol content) is not available. She also said that plain multilayered (at least 3 or 4 layers) cloth mask can be used if proper measures are followed outdoors. Along with this, she advised to practice, maintain and promote personal hygiene and cleanliness like covering faces correctly while coughing or sneezing, changing and washing clothes properly, bathing and/or sanitising, even in places where strict social distancing measures cannot be followed completely.

After this, in the open session, a participant asked Dr. Chakravarti about how they could help their 12 year old son with autism whose routine has been disrupted due to the pandemic. Dr. Chakravarti, noting the difficulty of the parents as well as various sub-scenarios for individual patients, replied that designing activities similar to the school’s routine for the child might be an option to help him in this period of crisis. There was a question from another participant who asked about the erratic nature of the graph. To this, all the speakers replied with their experiences in their own countries and here again, Dr. Ray Sengupta reiterated the importance of the ‘R’ value and the curve in the graph. The final question for the evening regarding the worries of adults as well as parents during the pandemic was answered by Dr. Ray Sengupta and Dr. Chakravarti. Dr. Ray Sengupta suggested to plan some time exclusively for good companionship and good quality family time which could help to keep calm and sort various things out. Dr. Chakravarti explained the need of expressing and identifying emotions and also prioritising of tasks. Both of them stressed the requirement of more and more conversations and keeping open for communication about physical and mental wellbeing among friends and family.

Vote of Thanks by Professor Debjani Ganguly