Highlights importance of recognizing wellbeing impacts and social cost of COVID-19
Jacobs subsidiary Simetrica-Jacobs and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) published a report looking at the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and wellbeing of people in the U.K. The report found “substantially worse” levels of wellbeing and psychological distress across the U.K. in April 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. Levels of all measures of wellbeing are at the lowest in the U.K. since records began in 2011 and many parts of the population are over the threshold for psychiatric morbidity. The costs of the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures on mental health and wellbeing were calculated to have an indicative monetary value to the U.K. of £2.25 billion ($2.8bn) per day, equivalent to £43 ($53) per adult each day1. This is the net cost as both the positive and negative effects of COVID-19 and social distancing were included in the analysis.
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As governments look to future planning and policy appraisal, this type of country-wide analysis on the mental health and wellbeing impacts of COVID-19 offers a social value perspective which has seen limited research to date.
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“Jacobs’ global practice in social value and wellbeing analysis is helping clients improve the way social and wellbeing impacts are measured and incorporated into decision making. The COVID-19 global health pandemic is having a major impact on our lives, yet little is known about the effects of policy responses around the world on people’s wellbeing,” said Jacobs President and Chief Operating Officer Bob Pragada. “As this new report shows, this type of analysis helps inform governments and stakeholders as they develop policy responses and solutions to improve wellbeing and quality of life as we move forward.”
In the U.K. report, the authors estimate that about two-thirds of the wellbeing cost comes from the impact of social distancing alone.
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