The COVID-19 pandemic has bought on the shortest economic recession in American history, but the recovery is still ongoing with higher rates of unemployment compared to pre-pandemic levels, delayed reopening of retail businesses, reduced in-person consumer activities, inflation, and increased cost of living. However, there are two other concurrent recessions that we cannot dismiss; the impacts on the social/social capital and the education/human capital. The social recession is described as a result of prolonged physical distancing, reduction of face-to-face interaction, fewer family and communal gatherings, and subsequently social isolation and loneliness. Education/human capital recession is the consequence of school closures and remote learning among children and young adults. In this article, the author discusses the short and long-term effects of these three types of recessions implicated by the pandemic and ties the outcomes with the social determinants of health from an upstream and downstream perspective. He also points out that the hardest-hit populations are low-income and marginalized groups. The inequities and disparities that these communities face are further worsened as a result leading to inaccessibility and underutilization of healthcare. In order for society to best circumvent the adverse effects from these recessions, the author offers solutions such as updating definitions of these recessions to fit the COVID-19 era, identifying the relationship that each type of recession may have with the others, using validated indicators to measure the outcomes and create comprehensive policies and surveillance strategies to monitor and evaluate interventions.
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