During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a high prevalence of PTSD among health care workers due to seeing unprecedented levels of suffering and death on the job while safety concerns existed.

• A. There was a low prevalence
• B. There was a high prevalence due to exposure to suffering and death and safety concerns
• C. There was no PTSD
• D. PTSD decreased

Answer: (B)

The main idea is that trauma exposure in healthcare workers can lead to PTSD, especially when the exposure is intense, repeated, and coupled with ongoing safety concerns. During the COVID-19 era, frontline workers continually confronted severe illness, death, and the moral distress of resource limits and personal risk. PTSD develops when someone is exposed to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence, and such exposure was rampant for these workers. This combination—direct witnessing of suffering and death plus ongoing fear for personal and family safety—heightens the risk for PTSD symptoms, so a high prevalence among health care workers is plausible and supported by research during the pandemic.

The other statements imply low or no PTSD or a decrease, which contradicts the substantial mental health impact documented in many studies of frontline staff during the crisis.