The unintended consequences of appropriate public health interventions during an infectious disease outbreak such as isolation and quarantine of exposed individual include depression, anxiety, exacerbation of pre-existing mental illness, cardiovascular illness, and dementia. Populations that may be especially at risk for mental health consequences of isolation include children and adolescents, the elderly, people with cognitive disorders such as dementia, and those with preexisting psychiatric illness. Awareness of these dangers of necessary public health responses and allocation of resources for interventions when populations are under a lockdown should be a mandatory part of emergency planning.
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