Delmarva Today: 12-11-20
As the Coronavirus Surges, a New Culprit Emerges: Pandemic Fatigue
Exhaustion and impatience are creating new risks as cases soar in parts of the world. “They have had enough,” one U.S. mayor said of her residents.
New York Times November 11, 2020
The pandemic is clearly surging today. As of December 6, there have been at least 14,759,800 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., and the death toll is now at least 281,878. And, the daily number of new cases continues to climb. On the first of November, for example over 74,000 new cases were reported and on December 4, the number of new cases reported was over 229,000. There was a slight drop this week with 202,000 new cases reported for last Monday, December, 7. But the fact is, we are now averaging over 200,000 new cases per day.
This growth in cases clearly presents a challenge for front-line workers yet there seems to be limited public concern about the risks of contracting the virus. What is the psychology behind this lack of concern? How can we understand people who won’t take the simple precautions of wearing a mask, or of avoiding large or even moderate sized gatherings? Is this the result of pandemic fatigue.
To help us understand these issues, Harold Wilson’s guest is Dr. Karl Maier a professor in the psychology department of Salisbury University. This is the second program in our three part series on the psychological impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.