COVID-19 and social restrictions: the potential mental health impact of social distancing and isolation for young Indigenous Australians

Dear Sir,

In Australia, the COVID-19 outbreak has generated swift and aggressive public health responses aimed at reducing the spread of infection. While these have been effective in curbing the outbreak in Australia, there is an increasing concern for the mental health impacts of ongoing socially restrictive measures. Despite the Prime Minister's urgings that 'we are all in this together', there is burgeoning evidence that the burden of this pandemic will not be equally shared and some are 'more in than others'. Effective measures to provide public health protection for all Australians including Indigenous Australians should be accompanied by additional effort to ameliorate the mental health consequences for those already at higher risk as a consequence of the burden of adverse social determinants.