Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Don’t give in to virus ‘fatigue,’ official urges
WASHINGTON — Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Sunday urged Americans to stick with covid-19 safeguards, including mask-wearing, as public weariness over pandemic restrictions grows.
Azar said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that many people may be feeling “mitigation fatigue” from the 7-month-old pandemic, but that there is “much promise in the weeks and months ahead” with the expected arrival of safe and effective vaccines.
His comments came as coronavirus infections are spiking in Europe and as public health officials are raising alarm that the infection rate in the U.S. is climbing toward a new peak.
The number of known infections in the United States passed 8.1 million on Sunday, with more than 57,000 new virus cases. It marked the fifth consecutive day in which infections topped 50,000, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University. Eighteen states set weekly records for new coronavirus infections during the seven-day stretch that ended Friday.
In Europe, cases are rising and hospitalizations are up. Britain is imposing new restrictions, and France has placed cities on “maximum alert,” ordering many to close all bars, gyms and sports centers. Germany and Italy set daily-case records in the past week. And leaders in the Czech Republic described their health care system as “in danger of collapsing,” as hospitals are overwhelmed
and as more deaths are occurring than at any time in the pandemic.
The virus has taken different paths through these countries as leaders have tried to tamp down the spread with a variety of restrictions. Shared, though, is a public weariness and a growing tendency to risk the dangers of the coronavirus out of desire or necessity. With no end in sight, many people are flocking to bars, family parties, bowling alleys and sporting events as they did before the virus hit, and others must return to school or work as communities seek to resuscitate economies.
And in sharp contrast to the spring, rituals of hope and unity that helped people endure the first surge of the virus have given way to exhaustion and frustration.
“People are done putting hearts on their windows and teddy bears out for scavenger hunts,” said Katie Rosenberg, the mayor of Wausau, Wis., a city of 38,000 where a hospital has opened an extra unit to treat covid-19 patients. “They have had enough.”
Ann Vossen, a medical microbiologist in the Netherlands, where daily cases doubled over the past week, said people across Europe “let go too much.” She added, “This is the result.”
Azar on Sunday asked people to “hang in there” because “we are so close.” He said the continued practice of safety guidelines of washing hands, practicing social distancing and wearing masks will be a “bridge” to the day when vaccines can become widely available.
In parts of the world where the virus is resurging, the outbreaks and a rising sense of apathy are colliding, making for a dangerous combination. Health officials say the growing impatience is a new challenge as they try to slow the latest outbreaks, and it threatens to exacerbate what they fear is turning into a devastating autumn.
The issue is particularly stark in the United States, which has more known cases and deaths than any other country and has already weathered two major coronavirus surges: Infections spiked during the spring in the Northeast and again this summer across the Sun Belt. But a similar phenomenon is setting off alarms across Europe, where researchers from the World Health Organization estimate that about half the population is experiencing “pandemic fatigue.”
“Citizens have made huge sacrifices,” said Dr. Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe. “It has come at an extraordinary cost, which has exhausted all of us, regardless of where we live or what we do.”
Medical treatments for the virus have vastly improved since the spring, and deaths remain below their peak, but the latest growth in coronavirus infections has left public health officials worried. More than 219,000 people have died in the United States since the start of the pandemic, and daily reports of deaths have stayed relatively consistent in recent weeks, with about 700 a day.
CONTRASTING BEHAVIOR
In some parts of the world, behavior has changed, and containment efforts have been tough and effective. Infections have stayed relatively low for months in places such as South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and China, where the virus first spread. After a dozen cases were detected in the Chinese city of Qingdao, authorities sought last week to test all of its 9.5 million residents.
“We have very little backlash here against these types of measures,” said Siddharth Sridhar, an assistant professor of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong. “If anything, there’s a lot of pushback against governments for not doing enough to contain the virus.”
The response in the United States and much of Europe has been far different. While residents willingly banded together in the spring, time has given rise to frustration and revolt.
Hot spots are emerging in the South and the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and are expanding rapidly in the Midwest and the Mountain West. Illinois last week recorded its highest daily number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began and its most deaths in a single day since June.
In Spain, a summer of travel and dancing has led to a new surge this fall. In Germany, health authorities on Thursday registered 7,334 infections in a 24-hour period, a national record. Italy, which imposed one of the most sweeping lockdowns in Europe this spring, reported a record 11,705 new infections on Sunday and began imposing targeted restrictions.
FEELING THE STRAIN
There are also signs that the ongoing stress could be taking a toll. In the United States, alcohol sales in stores are up 23% during the pandemic, according to Nielsen, a figure that could reflect the nation’s anxiety as well as the drop in drinks being sold at restaurants and bars.
Overdose deaths, too, are on the rise in many cities. In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, which includes Cleveland, there were recently 19 overdose deaths in a single week, far more than in most weeks.
In many states, businesses are open and often operating free of restrictions, even as hospitalizations have been driven up by coronavirus patients. Last week in Wisconsin, a field hospital at the state fairgrounds with a 530-bed capacity was reopened for coronavirus patients.
In El Paso, Texas, health officials on Saturday reported 449 hospitalizations from the coronavirus, the highest number since the pandemic began. Of those patients, 129 were in intensive care.
North Dakota’s daily positivity rate for covid-19 topped 10% for the sixth time in the past seven days as health officials on Sunday reported 716 new cases. Three counties had more than 100 positive tests. The state of about 760,000 residents has now surpassed 400 deaths.
Dr. Michael Landrum, who treats coronavirus patients in Green Bay, Wis., said contact tracing has become more complicated.
“The scary scenario is the number of patients who really just don’t know where they got it,” Landrum said. “That suggests to me that it’s out there spreading very easily.”
The challenge ahead, he said, would be convincing people that they need to take significant steps — all over again — to slow a spread that could be even worse than before.
“We’re trying to get people to change their behavior back to being more socially distanced and more restrictive with their contacts,” Landrum said. “There’s been a false sense of complacency. And now it’s just a lot harder to do that.”