This article is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.

Objective: We aim to provide early evidence of mental distress and its associated predictors among adults one month into the COVID-19 crisis in Brazil. Methods: We conducted an online survey of 638 adults in Brazil on March 25–28, 2020, about one month (32 days) cross-sectionally after the first COVID-19 case in South America was confirmed in São Paulo. The 638 adults were in 25 states out of the 26 Brazilian states, with the only exception being Roraima, the least populated state in the Amazon. Of all the participating adults, 24%, 20%, and 18% of them were located in Rio de Janeiro state, Santa Catarina state, and São Paulo state respectively. Results: In Brazil, 52% (332) of the sampled adults experienced mild or moderate distress, and 18.8% (120) suffered severe distress. Adults who were female, younger, more educated, and exercised less reported higher levels of distress. Each i...

We conducted a cross-sectional survey to assess the anxiety, distress, and turnover intention (likelihood to leave their current job) of healthcare workers in Peru during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results reported that 21.7% healthcare workers in Peru experienced severe anxiety, whereas 26.1% of them experienced severe mental distress. A higher level of education related with a lower level of anxiety. Younger workers had a higher level of turnover intention than their older colleagues did. Healthcare workers in the private sector had a higher turnover intention than those in the public sector. Most importantly, people who were geographically far from Lima, the epicenter in Peru, during the outbreak experienced less anxiety and mental distress, corroborating the ripple effect and disconfirming the typhoon eye theory. However, the direction of these relationships can change depending on t...