We went for a hike by the river outside town after many months this past weekend. The weather was great and people were out making the most of it. Advisories on social distancing were everywhere around the path. What struck me most about this crowd compared to what I encounter at the grocery stores was their nonchalant air.
If you had lived under the rock since the early part of this year and had just come out to get some air, you would have no reason to believe you were living in the middle of a pandemic. Every time we came too close to others, we would rush to make away and create some separation but no one else cared how close we came to them. Quarantine fatigue has clearly set in and some of it may be driven by data that people are seeing and interpreting to meet their needs:
“The moment people start seeing the curves flattening, the number of cases start dropping or holding steady,” he said, “that gives people a false sense of safety.”
It seems like local governments should provide the public simple and unambiguous metrics that do not need complication interpretation. Green, Amber and Red for expected behavior from people if they are allowed to be outside their homes. We need a common and easy to understand vocabulary we all follow the same way as we do traffic lights. Right now it is a free for all and people act based on their personal perception of risk, their empathy for their fellow human and their willingness to inconvenience themselves on account of others.
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