Do You Have Coronavirus Fatigue?

Anyone else suffering from Coronavirus Fatigue yet?

I’ve heard that this is a real thing and that ennui sets in around the fifth or sixth week of quarantine.  Now that we’re in our fifth week of social distancing, the novelty is wearing off and everyone is tired from the loss our old life. Makes sense to me.

Forgive me for not researching it further, and relying on hearsay, but now that my wife and children are home, I have less time for things like fact checking. Who really needs facts when you’ve got cable news talking heads dispensing misinformation and cavalierly suggesting that losing 2-3% of our children is worth the kick start to the economy?

I’ll admit, I’m suffering from Coronavirus Fatigue. As soon as I see the word “Coronavirus” or “COVID-19” in a news story, I skip it. Yes, I get the irony that I’m writing about it; being fatigued does not mean that I’m not a hypocrite. Every now and then I’ll check the number of infections and deaths. To a medical layperson (who occasionally does play a doctor  in medical trainings), this seems like a pretty big deal: five weeks at home and the virus is still ravaging our healthcare systems and no one has any solid idea of when we can resume life as “normal.” Imagine if we had not been practicing social distancing. Or imagine if we had started earlier. Fatigued or not, the signs tell us that we are doing the right thing.

Coronavirus Fatigue is all around. The ads sound tired: “we’re all in this together,” “In this uncertain time,” “your safety is our number one priority.” The quirky zoom meeting screen captures have lost their charm – hey look, another Brady Bunch meme opportunity! Gun toting mobs set out to bully state houses into re-opening…what? Restaurants? Barber shops? So we can all get sick?

So…what are we doing to combat Coronavirus Fatigue? Getting outside helps as does consuming non-virus-related media. I try writing an original joke every day instead of spreading memes, which really are the virus of the internet. My joke always centers on some absurd thing I’m trying to keep from my wife. Thankfully she doesn’t know about it.

The fatigue we’re feeling is real. I’m not suggesting we stop social distancing. Far from it. I’m fine with not being violently ill. And I’m especially fine with not passing it along to other people. After all, in these uncertain times, we’re all in this together.