Opinion/Letter To The Editor

This Taking Issue segment appeared in the September 2020 issue of the Journal Psychiatric Services. The authors ask what can be done to support people with serious mental illness in the long term as they resume lives in an uncertain society with confusing, often contradictory guidelines for avoiding infection and preventing the spread of the virus to others. As society reopens, closes, and reopens again, how can resumption of community life be facilitated for people with serious mental illnesses?

Published in the American Journal of Bioethics specially issue on COVID-19. From the introduction: “While the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked disproportionate havoc in marginalized racial/ethnic communities, little attention has been given to people with disabilities in the press, public health surveillance, and research. A few articles, including this special issue, consider the discriminatory nature of categorical exclusion from and guidelines for the rationing of medical equipment and services.

The researchers at the BH-BIMS published this letter to the editor in the journal Burns. The letter to the editor highlights the impact of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) on people with burn injury, including reduced access to inpatient and outpatient medical and therapeutic care, loss of peer support leading to increased isolation, and triggers for post-traumatic stress disorder. The authors also suggest resources for support and education for burn survivors and care providers. The article is available free in full text through PubMed.