COVID-19. What Really Happened to Our Response?
Opinion Analysis by Albert Geukgeuzian, Staff Writer
August 4th, 2020
Sars-Cov-2, or better known as COVID-19, has impacted every individual, every country, every region around the world - we are seeing its effects in the number of deaths, we are seeing it in occupied ICU beds. We are seeing people lose their loved ones while not even being able to be by their bedside. While all of this is happening, we are seeing an increase in confirmed cases, more people are forgoing medical guidelines. Why? Why now when cases are surging?
We all want to have our normal lives again, we want to get out and hug people, we want to shake hands, walk without masks, open every business without any restrictions placed on attendance, we want to return to schools but people’s lives are at stake.
At this rate, if we don’t re-focus our efforts and realize that we are facing a potential disaster, we will witness a breakdown of our country, of our society that has rarely been experienced.
But what happened to us?
We were so excited at the start of this to come together and fight this virus together, but over time we have grown tired of fighting this invisible enemy. Dr. Jacqueline Gollan coined the term “Caution Fatigue”; it describes people when they grow tired of the constant stress and fear and as a result stop being careful. Dr. Gollan likened our desire to be careful during this quarantine to a battery, at the start of the pandemic we were all charged up and ready to do our part and help one another in every way we could. As this pandemic has marched on, our batteries have slowly dried up and we are now at a point where it’s empty and we are left with no desire to socially distance, to wear masks, to save lives.
Dr. Gollan says the way to combat this fatigue is to, first of all, take care of your mental and physical health; get enough sleep, exercise, relieve stress, drink water because as she puts it “If people can address the reasons for the caution fatigue, the caution fatigue itself will improve”
Another key aspect we need to tackle is our understanding of the risks that our actions may pose. It’s very difficult for us, as humans, to connect with an abstract idea of “flattening the curve” or understanding the gravity of the number of deaths this virus has caused. To understand, reach out to those who have lost family members to covid, those who couldn’t stay by the bedside of their loved ones, ask them how it feels knowing that if people took this virus more seriously then their loved ones could still be alive.
If you think wearing a mask is uncomfortable then talk to a nurse who is forced to wear full PPE for 12 hours because they are on the frontlines helping patients who are struck down by this deadly virus, ask them what their uncomfortable means. Or, go to a hospital and see what it looks like for patients who are forced to be intubated; which is when a tube is placed in your mouth, through your throat and all the way into your lungs just so you can intake oxygen because it has become impossible for you to breathe on your own.
The last infectious disease outbreak of this horror was the 1918 Spanish Flu, back then people were reluctant to wear masks, disregarded medical guidelines and had public gatherings with no social distancing even against the medical advice of those times. I’d like to think that we can learn from history, we can recharge our batteries and restart wearing masks, social distancing, being careful and saving lives.