So the official advice is still to stay home if you possibly can, and not go out and do anything but necessary stuff like grocery shopping, food pickup (if you have to), and the like. Basically a sort of self-quarantine.
But in the odd events that I have gone out and about, I’ve been amazed at the number of people out doing stuff- going to the bank, going shopping, etc… and discussions on news media about going on vacation. And businesses opening back up, etc… all seemingly in if not actual violation of the law, certainly violating the spirit of the recommendations.
Am I just being a ninny? Or is there a sort of low-key disregard of the recommendations starting to build due to fatigue, and people are starting to do their own thing again?
As someone who never could stay home due to being an “essential worker” I have to say I think they’ve been ignoring warnings and doing their thing all along. If you’ve been mostly home you probably just haven’t seen it.
A lot of people aren’t taking the pandemic seriously until either they are someone they care about are badly affected.
Outside of work I stay home as much as I can and where a mask/bring hand sanitizer/keep my distance when I go out. All of which I also do at work, too.
Even corporations switched their tv ad tones from the “we’re all in this together” to “we’re getting back out there” at least a month ago and they haven’t looked back.
What they said. I’ve not been seeing extreme isolation around here for a month at least.
But yes, there is an element of “fatigue” and you tend to see it in locations where the reopening “phase” includes some sharp change in the access to certain activities or venues, and a mad mob rush ensues.
If everyone DID observe the appropriate distancing/protection rules, there is quite a bit you could reasonably do out and about. The problem is people don’t.
Many Americans, unfortunately, only have a limited time window in which they can tolerate restrictions. Once that time window of patience is up, they’re going back to normal life, virus or no virus.
The sort of patience or dedication that led to a 3.5-year American war effort that helped win WWII isn’t there anymore. This nation can’t even hold out for 3.5 months.
It isn’t exactly “fatigue” for me and my family. We observe precautions at all times, but there’s a difference in how I balance risk avoidance vs other factors now vs in March.
I was cool with staying at home except for rare necessary trips out for groceries in March. But, I have 2 kids, and I’m an active person, as is my significant other. There are risks in staying cooped up for, say, a year or more. Those risks are now in the mix. I don’t think it’s healthy for two 7-year-olds to not do anything outside their home or have any contact with other kids for 5-12 or more months. So our calculus of the risks has changed. We still do physical distancing, severely limit contacts (we actually haven’t met up with other kids intentionally* yet, but planning to on a very limited basis).
We’ve gone to a friend’s beach house (just us). We tried camping, but it was too hard to stay safe, so we came home after 2 nights.
We’ve done some kayaking on a local river, which itself involved no contact with others, but the put-in and take-out points were more crowded than I would have liked. We wore masks, distanced, and tried to be as quick as possible.
We ran into a friend and her kids at a park. Kids played with masks on, hand sanitizer used, and distancing rules. This is what we will do for intentional meetings as well.
You’re being a bit of a “ninny”. There is a balance between going on Spring Break and everyone sequestering in their homes, sanitizing their stored fingernails and urine like Howard Hughes.
Sure, at the height of the pandemic in NY/NJ where I live, we didn’t leave the apartment for 3 months. Now that our region is “curve-flattened” and seems stable, I am perfectly fine with going to a handful of restaurants and our local outdoor beer garden on an old converted Hudson River pier where they only do outdoor seating and maintain proper social distancing. Masks are mandatory in all local stores (which for me is Starbucks, CVS, the grocery store, and the liquor store).
I also regularly run (easily 4 to 8 miles now, depending on my mood).
At some point, you do need to accept some reasonable level of risk while taking proper precautions.
Also, I should point out that Roosevelt didn’t tell Americans “Today is a day that will live in infamy, now just sit in your homes until we win this thing!”
There are people who don’t take it seriously at all, and then there are far more people who are serious but cut corners for essentials (or just due to fatigue).
I’m in the latter camp… for the past 5 months I’ve been scrupulously paranoid, but I’m taking a second look at activities where the host is making an earnest effort at distancing and sanitation (i.e. my gym has been very diligent about this).
This is going to be an issue as the pandemic wears on… people will be looking for safe ways to let up the slack. If we had a functioning government, they’d be continuously updating advice on what’s safe and what isn’t. But the current administration is determined to pretend like nothing is going on, so I guess we’re all going to make our own rules and shame each other for the things we do to keep ourselves sane.
My own form of fatigue is that I really want to take a vacation. This is right around the time of year I normally would go on vacation. I haven’t used any of my vacation time this year. Except the official advice is still no non-essential travel. Even if I stay in California, stuff I’d like to visit like the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and the Monterey Bay Aquarium are closed. State parks and beaches are open, but as far as I know we’re still being asked not to travel long distances to visit them.
I live on a fairly busy road. Through the middle of May my road was eerily quiet. Then it gradually started picking up traffic. Now in August it is pretty much back to normal traffic levels.
Of course New Jersey got hit extra hard so I think that scared people. Middle of May is when we also saw new cases were really dropping.
I’ve got an old friend back in Louisiana (diehard Republican). He was saying back in March that he was already getting sick of hearing of COVID.
By contrast, I’ve not set a single step out of my apartment complex in 5 months. Somehow I am never the one who makes the odd trip to the post office or grocery pickup (guess I can’t be trusted to wear masks or use hand sanitizer correctly). We order shit delivered. Work online. And yes, I’m going insane.
Everyone else I know dealt with their insanity a long time ago - they stopped giving a shit. But as someone who’s had lung issues and pneumonia multiple times, I can’t.
I agree with this. We ate at a restaurant for the first time yesterday. We sat outside. Every table far apart, and a server with a mask. Next week we’re taking a vacation, but we’ll be pretty isolated The gov’t isn’t recommending total lockdown, and I don’t feel like we’re violating any health regulations.
I have a dog, so I’ve been leaving the house 2-3 times/day all along to take her on walks. There are definitely more people out and about now than there were in March & April.
I think this is part of the problem all along. The original “Don’t go out” was straightforward and easy to understand and follow. Now that we’re out of the hardcore quarantine, it’s not as clear as to what people should or shouldn’t do and so everyone is trying to figure out their own way - and that, combined with fatigue is enabling questionable choices.
I’m back at work this week (school, but only a handful of people have started–principals, counselors, a few people like me on slightly longer contracts) and I will say that traffic is still insanely light. @bump, I come right down Central every day, and back up through the Canyon, and delays are minimal both ways. Maybe a little backed up on 30, but not bad. So while people may be getting quarantine fatigue, it’s a long way from normal out there.
@eschrodinger, the kid thing is a nightmare. My son is an only child. He had cousins here for about 6 weeks, and that was great, but now they are gone and I really worry about going back into his all-adult bubble. It’s been great for his vocabulary, mind you, but I worry he will struggle to adapt whenever we go back to normal school. On the other hand, they may all come out of quarantine a little weird, so maybe it will be okay.
I actually had a doctor’s appointment the other day, and drove down Central- it was VERY light. But in the local shopping centers and big-box stores, their parking lots seem as packed as ever. Same with a lot of restaurants that I’ve gone by.
It’s definitely not normal, but outside of actual in-person observations, I’ve also noticed a fairly large increase in commentary about visiting other people/going places for social events on both social media, co-workers during the minutes before/after a meeting, and online gaming/chat with friends.
It just seems like the cork is coming out of the bottle a bit more than I’d expected, considering the rash of cases in Texas about a month ago.
I think this is a big issue. When we are making these choices on our own, we get personally invested in how right we are. So when someone makes a different choice we can feel so sure that they are wrong, when really, at best, all you can hope for is to have made the right choice for you, in your circumstances. The other thing we are hearing is that what everyone does affects everyone else, so seeing people do things you don’t feel comfortable with can feel threatening. Some people are clearly doing things no one should be doing. But, I think a lot of people are doing their best to make safe choices and balance the risks. I for one need to keep reminding myself of that.
Maybe it’s because I’m in NYC - but I don’t know anyone who has been on a vacation that involved going to museums or tourist destinations. Spend a few days in the mountains at a quiet, almost empty resort, yes. Spend a couple of days hiking in the Catskills, yes. Visiting relatives, yes. But even the degenerate gamblers I know aren’t going to Atlantic City like they normally would.
To be honest, other than wearing a mask all the time and being even more obsessive about hygiene and sanitation, my life is almost identical to how it was pre-covid. Has been since mid May.
That seems to be the case for many around here. I know that there are still more people working from home or not working, as one thing that I do notice is that traffic is so much easier.
There are modifications, alterations to our activities, but very few are actually canceled.
I think there’s a pretty large difference between the online world and real world. Like in politics (or any subject) fringe viewpoints are amplified online and receive outsized attention. I don’t know anyone in real life who thinks: 1. we’re living through the next plague and we’re all in imminent mortal danger or 2. the whole thing is a hoax. Online you don’t have to look far to see those types of opinions expressed. Most people seem to be of the opinion that precautions are necessary, but they also aren’t freaked out.
I’m also in my 30s and significantly younger (I think) than most on the SDMB. Lots of people my age or younger are starting to grow fatigued from restrictions relating to a disease that doesn’t pose much of a threat to them. If young people were at serious risk, I think behaviors would be different. As it is now, I’m starting to see more socializing and group activities compared to a couple months ago.
I’m a therapist and faculty member. There are lots of people 20-30 who are experiencing significant distress about COVID, including concern that other people their age are not taking it seriously. I am NOT saying this to challenge you, but to comment that there are people around you who are not sharing their experience because they’re afraid that they’re going to be made fun of or that their concerns are going to be minimized. There are more people in this age group than many people might know who have significant health risks that make them extremely vulnerable to COVID complications.