Resilience in times of the Coronavirus pandemic outbreak - a way forward

Abstract

The intercontinental outbreak of the corona virus disease (COVID-19) is an apt reason of unexpected stress and adversity for many people. Countries worldwide have adopted confining measures and called on their citizens to adopt physical distancing behaviours to contain the spread of the COVID‐19 pandemic. At a time when several countries are relaxing their lockdown measures, new uncertainties arise regarding the further evolution of a crisis becoming multifaceted, as well as the enduringness of public firmness to face and contain it. In this context, the sustained effectiveness of public health measures will depend more on the level of acceptance across populations. Citizens are called on to temporary sacrifice of daily freedom, while economic insecurity grows and social inequalities become more blatant the stress level increases. In this research paper we seek to develop a framework for analysing how the requirements of ‗physical distancing‘ can be reconciled with the conditions that allow for the maintaining and strengthening of social cohesion, mutual solidarity, and a sense of collective efficaciousness , throughout the crisis. To study this we propose a summary of relevant findings and pragmatic policy derived from them.