As the one-year anniversary of when COVID-19 began to spread widely across this country and all of us began to experience lock-downs in order to stem the spread of this virus approaches, we can be forgiven for being tired of all of the disruptions in our lives and have high hopes that the end is in sight.
Despite the hitches in vaccine delivery, the vaccination process has begun and we've been promised by officials that everyone who wants a vaccine will be able to have one by September. It's easy to think that, with an end in sight, we can let our guard down and relax some of the measures we've been following. Such thinking is dangerous, and if we act on these thoughts, we run the risk of extending this pandemic far into the future.
Like most people, I've been experiencing "COVID fatigue" in recent months as the restrictions begin to wear on my mental health. I can't wait for the time when it's safe to visit family on the mainland. I went to the grocery store last week on a rainy day and parked midway down the parking lot. I made it to the front door of the store before realizing I left my mask in the car; for one moment, the thought entered my head that I could just run in and out - as far as we know, we don't have any community spread here in St. John's so there isn't any real risk right? Despite the inconvenience - and getting a bit wetter from the rain - I returned to my vehicle and retrieved my mask.
It's essential to remember the advice of health experts and, in particular, the words of Newfoundland's Chief Medical Health Officer Janice Fitzgerald that it's inevitable that the new variants of COVID-19 will make it here. In order to control the spread, we all need to continue to follow all of the guidelines, no matter how inconvenient it may be or how tired we are of having our normal routines disrupted.
COVID fatigue is a real thing that most of us go through but it pales in comparison to the cold hard fact of how viruses like COVID-19 spread and mutate. Simply put, viruses can't replicate themselves and need a living organism - us - to spread and reproduce. They can only mutate and change once they have spread widely within a community of living organisms - us.
The only way to prevent viruses from spreading and mutating is to break the chain of how they spread, which means diligently following public health measures. Medical experts are critical in fighting this virus but the real work in controlling the spread falls squarely on the shoulders of us if we are to ever get things under control.
If we let down our guard now because we are tired of following restrictions, imagine how tired we will be if they become necessary forever because the virus continues to mutate beyond the ability of vaccines to control it. While early evidence indicates that present vaccines are effective against the newer strains, there's no guarantee about this long-term.
Whether new vaccines will need to be developed depends solely on us - and that includes not just people in our region, but the entire human population. As long as there are places in the world where the virus is widely active in the community, the risk of mutation and global spread exists.
Brian Hodder works in the field of mental health and addictions. He can be reached at [email protected].
