Humans are social animals. We seek physical closeness and, in the response to a collective threat, we reach out for even more
As a boy growing up in Fox Creek, northern Alberta, Jay Van Bavel learned how to give a firm handshake. Guys would be teased if they had a flimsy grip. It was that masculine, alpha-male thing.
“It’s that habit we built our entire life in our culture. Shaking hands is the way you connect with somebody.” Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, warned this week Canadians must remain vigilant, for months to come, or risk losing what we gained by staying locked inside for umpteen weeks. Perseverance, she says, is the best shot we have at avoiding exponential spread of the virus over the spring and summer, and preparing for whatever fall and winter might bring.
But we can’t be in shutdown mode forever. Suddenly, there is talk of “quarantine fatigue,” what Harvard Medical School infectious diseases epidemiologist Julia Marcus describes in The Atlantic as the “profound burden of extreme physical and social distancing.” “Some of the conspiracy theories go against the proven fact that COVID-19 is caused by a virus. And if you don’t think is caused by a virus then it follows that you might engage in riskier, not-socially distanced behaviour,” says co-researcher Sarah Everts, who worries the spread of myths and misinformation could lead to a “lackadaisical or cavalier disregard of social distancing, which could then lead to a resurgence of the virus.
Health leaders have reason to worry about caution fatigue, she says, because the dangers are real. “There are harsh consequences to the community if caution fatigue drives some of your choices.” Not maintaining safe distances, ignoring public health announcements, pulling down fences put up to keep the public out. If we address our caution fatigue, we can reduce sickness and death.
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