Mindanaotoday.com | Pandemic fatigue
Uriel Quilinguing | Views from the South
In Cagayan de Oro, two-digit counts were recorded for three consecutive days, bringing total two-week infections to 83, as of Thursday, July 14. Perhaps no tests were done on two days when no case was reported.
For the region, if we take the 14 days of July against the last two weeks of June, the two-week growth rate of Covid-19 cases in region 10 would be 170 percent.
Truth is, the Regional Epidemiology, Surveillance and Disaster Response Unit (RESDRU) of DOH-10 has recorded 165 infections for the first two weeks this month, yet only 61 cases were detected during the June 17 to 30 period.
Though 162 were listed as outpatients, still these active cases are infectious and could transmit the virus to others.
The region logged in 22 fresh infections on Friday, July 15—the fourth consecutive days where the count exceeded 20. There were 24, 25, and 23 persons who tested positive for Covid-19 last July 14, 13, and 12, respectively.
This overall spike of Covid-19 cases in the region, however, does not bother health officials anymore.
They had seen enough in mid-2020s up to December last year, when daily infections breached the century mark, when hospitals got overwhelmed with patients in severe and critical conditions, and worse, amid oxygen supply and health workers shortages.
Recently, those tested positive of Covid-19 are being advised to isolate at home, but I doubt if they really comply.
They must have been experiencing the so-called pandemic fatigue, after more than two years of restrictions and infodemic, including misinformation and disinformation.
Since 2020, the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid-19 would report latest cases, recoveries, deaths and issue advisories, but these briefers had ceased.
Good that RESDRU personnel have kept their composure, posting Covid-19 Briefer on Facebook nightly.
It appears the DOH-10 and other agencies in the RITF have been caught by pandemic fatigue as well. New infections, even in double-digits, are no longer newsworthy to them unlike in the past.
They must have learned of news avoidance which Reuters Institute mentioned in its 2021 Digital News Report that was released last month. Aside from a downtrend in news consumption from traditional sources, the percentage of survey respondents avoiding news has widened.
Yes, more and more people no longer read and listen to news on Covid-19, partly because of the sustained scare-campaign which proved to be distressing, causing negative effects on well-being. Reuters Institute found this from survey respondents.
Well, the state’s health agency has yet to prove mental health is also among its priorities.
Let’s hope the efficacy of the primary series of Covid-19 vaccines has not waned and those infected had boosters, or else cases from more infectious variant may spike again. (MT)
(Uriel Quilinguing has been a journalist in print and broadcast media for over four decades in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines. He is a former president of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club, the Media Health Advocates, and chair of the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines local chapter.)
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