The emergent inequities and inequalities resulting from lockdown and social distancing measures taken to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic within a Maltese scenario

Abstract

The COVID-19 measures of lockdowns and social distancing impact the wellbeing of different groups of people across populations, even in small countries such as Malta that enjoys free health care. This paper uses a mixed method approach to explore which aspects of the social determinants of health created new inequities and inequalities amongst the Maltese inhabitants during the first wave of the COVID-19 period; it determines who the groups of people mostly being affected by the pandemic measures are; explores the complexity of experiences during the partial lockdown measures; determines which neighbourhood contextual environments are likely to cause harm to people’s wellbeing; and understands the effect of the social distancing measures within a cultural context of outdoor social interaction. Age, gender and neighbourhood landscape environment are significant determinants of the experience of COVID-19 measures. Yet, when looking in depth it became evident that the personality, marital status, housing type, family environment, employment type and conditions, access to social media, contextual social norms and neighbourhood contexts of individuals determined the experienced inequities and inequalities, in complex ways. It emerged that these aspects experienced during the pandemic highly determined the wellbeing of different groups of people.