Addressing the COVID-19 Pandemic in Populations With Serious Mental Illness

With Serious Mental IllnessThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic will present an unprecedented stressor to patients and health care systems across the globe.Because there is currently no vaccine or treatment for the underlying infection, current health efforts are focused on providing prevention and screening, maintaining continuity of treatment for other chronic conditions, and ensuring access to appropriately intensive services for those with the most severe symptoms. 1isasters disproportionately affect poor and vulnerable populations, and patients with serious mental illness may be among the hardest hit.High rates of smoking in this population may raise the risk of infection and confer a worse…