Research to respond to COVID-19

30 RESEARCH TO RESPOND TO COVID-19

We noted above a proposal for cross and interdisciplinary research to respond to pandemics. We specifically asked people if they thought there were new areas of research relating to the COVID-19 crisis that should be funded. Three quarters of respondents to the question (74.7%) said yes, and 132 provided specific proposals.

These covered a broad range of areas and across the whole research pipeline, including: • the effects on mental health, • social implications of lockdowns and changes to schooling, • public health and epidemiology, • the health system and workforce, and the effectiveness of communication strategies • new therapies, diagnostics and preventive measures, • health services and systems research including the ongoing role of telehealth, • the long term health consequences for COVID sufferers, and • virology and immunology.

The above highlight just how pervasive the effects of COVID-19 have been, and the need to respond to the disease itself, as well as to understand the consequences and implications of the actions taken in Australia to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and limit its impact.