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Pathways and Obstacles to Social Recovery Following the Elimination of SARS-CoV-2 From Aotearoa New Zealand: A Qualitative Cross-sectional Study

Long, NJ; Appleton, NS; Davies, S; Deckert, A; Fehoko, E; Holroyd, E; Martin-Anatias, N; Sterling, R; Trnka, S; Tunufa'I, L
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http://hdl.handle.net/10292/15569
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Abstract
Background

Many public health experts have claimed that elimination strategies of pandemic response allow ‘normal social life’ to resume. Recognizing that social connections and feelings of normality are important for public health, this study examines whether, and for whom, that goal is realized, and identifies obstacles that may inhibit its achievement.

Methods

Thematic analysis of narratives obtained via a qualitative cross-sectional survey of a community cohort in Aotearoa | New Zealand.

Results

A majority of participants reported that life after elimination was ‘more or less the same’ as before the pandemic. Some became more social. Nevertheless, a sizeable minority reported being less social, even many months after elimination. Key obstacles to social recovery included fears that the virus was circulating undetected and the enduring impact of lockdowns upon social relationships, personal habits and mental health. Within our sample, old age and underlying health conditions were both associated with a propensity to become less social.

Conclusions

Elimination strategies can successfully allow ‘normal social life’ to resume. However, this outcome is not guaranteed. People may encounter difficulties with re-establishing social connections in Zero-COVID settings. Measures designed to overcome such obstacles should be an integral part of elimination strategies.
Keywords
COVID-19; Health policy; Pandemic; Sense of normality; Social isolation; Social relationships
Date
2022
Source
Journal of Public Health, 2022;, fdab394, https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdab394
Item Type
Journal Article
Publisher
Oxford University Press
DOI
10.1093/pubmed/fdab394
Publisher's Version
https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/advance-article/doi/10.1093/pubmed/fdab394/6499887
Rights Statement
© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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