Occupational therapy and COVID-19

Greta Thunberg, teenage climate advocate, notes the international response to COVID-19 has shown how governments can act in an emergency. ‘It is possible to treat a crisis like a crisis, it is possible to put people’s health above economic interests, and it is possible to listen to science’, she argues, adding that the pandemic has increased the value of science in many societies (Haynes, 2020). Reports globally show that, as a result of the pandemic, there is increased poverty (World Bank, 2020), family job loss, disrupted schooling at all stages of education, mental and physical problems, often unaddressed because of the necessity for lockdown and isolation. These are areas where occupational therapists have had input during the pandemic. Based on our science, professional reasoning and innovation, we know that the role of occupational therapy is integral to the health of our populations. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has created additional stress within our already strained occupational therapy workforce. A global survey, conducted by World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) between April and July 2020, (Hoel et al., 2021) indicated the pandemic had a wide-ranging impact for the delivery of occupational therapy services. The survey highlighted a lack of preparedness, restrictions in service access, redeployment, frequently changing working conditions and the demands of new technology. Limitations in essential resources, such as additional space for physical distancing, workplace protocols and personal protective equipment, impeded service delivery. As part of their initiatives to address issues arising from the COVID19 pandemic, WFOT prepared public statements, located on the WFOT website, including: