Table 1. Recommendations for health professionals and families regarding schizophrenia patients.

1. Schizophrenia patients should follow the same health instructions (e.g., influenza vaccine – unless specific restrictions apply) and receive the same treatment as clinical high-risk groups for COVID-19.

2. General practitioners treating COVID-19 patients should pay special attention to those with schizophrenia, since they could minimize or have difficulty describing respiratory symptoms.

3. Mental health professionals should remotely monitor unstable outpatients and, when possible, use telehealth (internet-based) technologies to provide more frequent clinical contact and support for emerging concerns.

4. Mental health services should inform patients and families of all procedures to be followed during this period and should provide clear remote contact channels to minimize overcrowding and exposure. However, families should monitor for signs of relapse and contact mental health services as soon as possible.

5. Professionals and families should promote and monitor adherence to antipsychotic medication regimens, as well as ensure access to prescriptions, perhaps organizing a delivery system. It should also be emphasized that patients should continue regular medication regimens, including clozapine.

6. To reduce emotional distress – and possibly psychotic relapse – families and patients should be advised to: - Anticipate stress reactions and be informed about them by professionals. - Prepare for quarantine, which can be better adhered to if patients and families receive more information about the disease, about the benefits of quarantine (both personally and in terms of public health), and about quarantine procedures (such as adequate supplies of food and medication).26 - Limit media exposure, since overexposure to broadcasts of stressful situations has been linked to negative mental health outcomes,27 and avoid misinformation. - In as much as possible, develop new routines that include leisure activities and physical exercise.