Alarm fatigue is where we are in the curve of the Pandemic. We have been exposed to a large number of frequent alarms/alerts and consequently can become sensitized to them.
Normally this is associated with patient safety, where there are false or clinically irrelevant alarms. But here we are: many weeks into the constant alarms of staying inside, social distancing, gloves, and masks and we are experiencing the same stresses as health workers. I wonder how this might change an entire population's social fabric.
Another expert has given this a new name - moral fatigue - where we are barred from making the appropriate moral choice by existing rules or policies, or we have to deal with a new set of moral choices and not able to rely on habits and existing patterns.
The result is the same for both alarm fatigue and moral fatigue: exhaustion. And this results in being less attentive to the needed activities like washing hands, social distancing, and so on. And if we think we might get used to the new rules, there are even more new rules coming out.
What's the latest alarm? As patio season is about to open: don't use the restaurant bathrooms. Don't share condiments.
This is a pandemic that will be remembered for bathroom activities.
Our beautiful swan today lives at Whistling Gardens. He is one of the two swans there - both are named Brutus.
