With COVID-19 cases surging, it is expected that humans, as rational beings, will step up their efforts to avoid contracting the virus. Instead, carelessness has become more and more evident with people stepping out of their homes without a mask and not following social distancing measures.
After six months of dealing with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, many are experiencing pandemic fatigue, also called crisis fatigue. Pandemic fatigue can occur when people get tired of pandemic measures and become less likely to follow public health practices. It stems from a natural sense of burnout as they have had to stick to these public health measures for a prolonged period of time.
Early during or right after a disaster, communities tend to pull together and people support each other by creating a sense of community bonding, according to Kaye Hermanson, a health psychologist at the University of California Davis Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
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"However, eventually, that heroic spirit wears thin as the difficulties and stress build-up. We lose our optimism and start to have negative or angry reactions. Many people are exhausted by it all," Hermanson said.
She said that people are tired to the point where some are saying they do not care if they contract COVID-19. "They would rather risk getting sick than stay home or be careful. Others have simply stopped listening to health leaders and science," Hermanson added.
However, the need to follow guidelines and COVID-19 prevention measures are important now more than ever, as India's tally crossed the 55 lakh mark on September 22. While the daily case count has reduced from its peak, infections remain high and the rise of a second wave in many countries remains a cause for concern.
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The total detected coronavirus cases in the country surged to 55,62,663, with 75,083 new infections being reported in a span of 24 hours, while the death toll climbed to 88,935 as the virus claimed 1,053 more lives during the same period, according to Health Ministry data.
In less than one month, India's case count doubled from 20 lakh on August 7 to 40 lakh on September 5.
India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5, and went past 50 lakh on September 16. The COVID-19 case fatality rate was recorded at 1.6 percent.
The Union Health Ministry recently said that it has received complaints from several state governments stating that people are becoming lax in taking precautions against COVID-19.
Addressing a press briefing earlier this month, NITI Aayog member VK Paul, who also heads COVID-19 national task force, said, "We are getting repeated complaints from states that people have become lax (in taking precautions)."
"It is primarily an individual’s responsibility to keep the virus away from one’s self, while the system’s responsibility is to carry out containment measures, contact tracing, surveillance and so on," he added.
The United States, India and Brazil are the three most affected countries, but concerns are growing in other parts of the world.
While many countries continue to deal with the first wave of infections, others - especially in Europe - are already facing a second wave. Belgium, Italy, France and the United Kingdom are witnessing a sudden rise in cases.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently expressed fears that the UK may now be seeing a second wave coming in and is reportedly considering tougher measures to slow the spread of the deadly virus.
Johnson said that a second lockdown was the last thing anybody wants but admitted that the government was considering whether it needed to go further than the restrictions introduced this week that limited social interactions to six people."
Several countries, including New Zealand and Israel, have been forced to reimpose lockdown following a drastic resurgence in new COVID-19 cases.
Israel entered a three-week nationwide lockdown on September 18 to contain the spread of the coronavirus after a second-wave surge of new cases, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Israel had declared a lockdown in April when the virus first arrived, after which daily cases dropped to low double digits among a population of nine million. But as the economy reopened, daily infections jumped.
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