Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic in Turkey

Abstract

Turkey is one of the countries affected by the COVID-19 outbreak relatively late with the first positive case reported on March 10, 2020. Following the first incident, COVID-19 cases escalated quickly and dramatically. As of December 10, 2020, Turkey’s number of new cases was 30.424, which is fourth amongst all the countries, following highly populated countries like the USA, Brazil and India. Additionally, the total number of cases in Turkey since the beginning of the pandemic has reached 1.748.567 with a death toll of 15.751 (Turkish Ministry of Health, 2020 [1]). Turkish Ministry of Health was quick in its response to the pandemic. Only a week after the first incident, the schools and universities were suspended. The restaurants, cafes, museums, shopping malls, hairdressers, nightclubs and wedding halls were temporarily closed. Wearing a mask in public places has become mandatory. Additionally, flexible working hours and shifts were adopted. Although a total lock down was never applied because of economical reasons, curfews during the weekends and holidays have become the standard. In addition to these policies, a unique age selected curfew was adopted. Turkey is a relatively young country, with a population of 25.5 million children and adolescents while only 7.5 million people are over 65 (Turkish Statistical Institute, 2020 [2]). Turkey decided to and applied a strict curfew for these two age groups; elderly people aged over 65 as they have higher morbidity risk and youngsters aged under 20 as they have a higher chance of spreading the virus without showing any symptoms. Additionally, the youngsters and the elderly are mostly out of the work force, therefore their curfew has not affected the economy. Although in theory it is a very bright idea to lockdown 40% of the population, the isolation of these two age groups actually requires a special attention. Geriatricians recommend regular social and physical activity for cognitive and emotional well being of the elderly (Soysal, Aydin, & Isik, 2020 [3]). Curfew interrupted their physical and social activities and has the potential of affecting them negatively both psychologically and physically in the long run. On the other hand, COVID-19 changed daily lives of adolescents drastically all over the world. A comparative study between Turkish and Danish adolescents’ feelings indicated that Turkish adolescents were significantly more concerned about their future with it getting worse with the pandemic (61,4% vs