We've now began the third year with COVID-19 looming over everyone's heads and for many people their mental health has took a significant slide. It's resulted in many people calling this decrease in mental wellness “Covid fatigue” or “pandemic fatigue.”
What exactly is this covid fatigue that people are feeling?
With new variants, restrictions changing constantly, and countries all over the world having different approaches on how to tackle the virus many people are feeling ‘worn-out’ or ‘tired’. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) the percentage of adults in the UK suffering from severe symptoms of depression in 2019 before COVID was around 10%. By March 2021 that percentage had more than doubled to 21%.
The ever-changing reality of the world with Covid has many people living in states of uncertainty or even depression surrounding the world post-covid. This is why many are suffering from this ‘Covid fatigue’.
The vicious circle
Those that are feeling this phenomenon are more likely to become complacent when it comes to abiding by rules and restrictions from the more severe responses such as lockdowns or isolation periods. This can then lead to even becoming more complacent with the simpler guidelines such as wearing a mask or keeping a reasonable distance from other people.
This has led to an increase in cases all over the world due to the fact the more complacent people become with the guidelines that are in place to stop/ curb the spread of COVID-19 then the percentage of people contracting the virus increases. According to an article by NPR in November of 2020, the US Surgeon General blames 'Covid fatigue' for increases in cases of COVID-19.
Mistrust
The rules and restrictions constantly changing have also led to an increase in 'pandemic fatigue' as there has been a significant uptick in general political mistrust. Many out there feel that those in power have not done what is expected of them to make things easier and safer for people during this pandemic.
There have also been noticed moments of politicians imposing rules and restrictions but not abiding by them themselves. The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnston recently had to apologize to the House of Commons for attending a party at Downing Street during the height of the restrictions.
This increase of political mistrust has also led to people becoming more complacent in their efforts to follow the guidelines and restrictions so this tiredness and depression that many are feeling during COVID have led to an increase in cases of COVID which in turn increases how long the world stays in the midst of the pandemic which then, in turn, has a detrimental effect on people's mental health.
Living during a pandemic is always going to have detrimental effects on people’s health but it's not to be understated just how severe the COVID-19 pandemic has been on the mental health of everyone and people just hope that we can eventually move on from COVID and in doing so hopefully this has a positive effect on the mental health of people all over the world.
