Trending
WHEELING -- As the world looks to wrap up nearly a full year since COVID-19 started its spread, it's been a common pastime to wistfully refer to "before the COVID" hit with nostalgia, reminiscing of fonder times when people could gather in large groups, touch their face in public, and wander into stores without masks.
As the holiday season approaches, many will hold gatherings of family and friends, despite daily warnings from health officials to exercise caution with regards to group size, and despite the rising numbers of new positive cases and subsequent death tolls.
The gradual weakening of public resolve to cooperate with health protocols, "COVID fatigue," is an understandable phenomenon as daily life has been completely upended. Wheeling-Ohio County Health Administrator Howard Gamble said it's not the first time people have balked at precautions, being a common side-effect of mass health crises that the country has seen in the past, most recently with the polio outbreaks of the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Gamble added that the fatigue is also evident during annual reminders to get flu shots, and compounded by anti-vaccine individuals.
"It happened before, where we get tired of a disease and taking control measures. We see it seasonally with flu. We get very tired of hearing 'Get your flu shot,' and go, 'I'm not going to get it because that flu shot never works,'" Gamble said. "To some degree with the rise of individuals who are against vaccinations, we're beginning to see that in other infectious diseases.
"If you look back in history, some of this has already been done before, with polio and smallpox, before we had the disease under control by vaccination and public health measures, we got very tired," he added.
Prior to the widespread distribution of the polio vaccine in 1955 and the disease's subsequent eradication in America in 1979, Gamble said the public was urged to stay indoors during the summer months and avoid gathering or doing things which could spread the terrible disease until it was eventually reigned in through medicine.
"Polio, for example, would increase during the summer and warm months, which was a reverse of what we're seeing now. People wanted to get out and do things, and the idea that this virus was out there causing paralysis, we were beginning to get tired of it until the vaccine rolled out, and a lot of people will not remember that unless they're old enough to remember. ... There were concerns where we couldn't go swimming, couldn't go outdoors, couldn't gather because of the polio outbreaks."
Looking at historical precedent, Gamble said the public needs to hold out for a little longer until vaccines can be safely rolled out over the course of the next year.
"Historically, we've experienced fatigue before," he said. "We now have to realize that we're in this for a little bit longer. It may be that we're heading into the December months with the possibility of two vaccines, maybe more, but before those vaccines come we're going to have to do a lot of testing, monitoring.
"Even when they arrive, they're still going to be tested and monitored," he added, "as we're slowly pushing these vaccines out to priority groups, before it becomes so available you could get it through a pharmacist or your doctor during a wellness check."
COVID fatigue was examined over the summer at the University of California, Davis, and several coping techniques to alleviate the worst effects of isolation and stress were discussed by Kaye Hermanson, a psychologist in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Hermanson recommended exercise — more feasible in the warmer weather, but still possible indoors at home — talking with others about one's frustration, constructive thinking, and mindfulness and gratitude.
"We have a tendency to get down on ourselves," Hermanson said. "But be aware, if you're someone who never cries and suddenly you're in tears, or if small things make you super angry - those are signs you need to reach out and talk to somebody...
"Eventually, that heroic spirit wears thin as the difficulties and stress build up. That's when we hit the disillusionment phase. We lose our optimism and start to have negative or angry reactions. We ask, 'What are they doing to fix this? How long will this last?' That's about where we stand now as a society. ... Some are saying they don't care if they get COVID-19. They'd rather risk getting sick than stay home or be careful. Others have simply stopped listening to health leaders and science."