A SURVEY BASED STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON HEALTH AND WELLBEING

Abstract

The current study aims to collate and analyze information on the health and wellbeing of people in the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted using Google form which was distributed using social media platforms and the results were evaluated statistically. The demography profile of 181 respondents was recorded and 87.8% of the test population belonged to the age group of 19-45 years. Most of the COVID-19 infected individuals in this age group did not have any pre-existing diseases. During the progression of the infection in the test population, 43.6% experienced mild symptoms, 32% had moderate symptoms, 16.6% were asymptomatic, whereas 7.7% experienced severe symptoms. The symptoms were less severe in those people who were either partially or fully vaccinated in comparison to non-vaccinated individuals (p=0.005). Amongst the vaccinated population, 80.2% had been vaccinated with Covishield, 18.8% with Covaxin and the remaining received other vaccine brands. The recovery period was affected by the body mass index (BMI) of individuals (p=0.029), their sleeping patterns (p=0.002), and the severity of their symptoms (p=0.015). After the initial recovery, 35.3% of people said that they have been experiencing Long-COVID symptoms. People with Long-COVID experienced fatigue, headache, brain fog, and joint or muscle pain. Post-COVID, 12.2% of the test population carried out rigorous physical activity, 43.1% were lightly active, and 32% were moderately active. Supplements like vitamin C and zinc were consumed by the people to aid their recovery. It was observed that COVID-19 has impacted the mental health and work-life of the respondents.