Thought of the Day - August 7 - Corona Fatigue

Way back in Q1 of this year the details, implications, and required policies concerning the novel coronavirus were few and far between. As reported, it was the outbreak of the COVID-19 aboard the Diamond Princess (https://clifffraser0.wixsite.com/covid-19/post/thought-of-the-day-may-11-thank-you-people-of-the-diamond-princess) that brought the pandemic to the Canadian public's attention finally prompting daily briefings from authorities.

Almost six months later, the Canadian public is now starting to suffer from "COVID information fatigue". What does this mean? Well while the news agencies continue to pump out stats and news briefs concerning COVID-19, this is now mainstream news and thus glossed over by most of the public (https://clifffraser0.wixsite.com/covid-19/post/thought-of-the-day-june-16-mass-media). So soon the mainstream media will start to shy away from COVID reporting.

While our lives have been turned upside down, we have to admit nothing much has changed in recent months: testing is still haphazard, misinformation on effective prevention and treatments still abound, cluster outbreaks still happen. So for the general public, other than reinforcing lessons from 100 years ago (hygiene, masks, distancing and a touch of xenophobia), the press has little to say anyway. Vaccines are still some time in future, broader travel is still not a good idea, and the economy is still being buffered with subsidies.

So, what does this really mean? Simply put it means we will have a continuing rise in cases for the coming months. We will have a continuing rise in deaths in the coming months. We will have a continuing acceptance that COVID-19, like seasonal-flu, like suicide, like car accidents, like overdoses, is just part of life. I guess the "new normal" has arrived - for now.

Cheers

Cliff