Fatigue Will Be the Carrier of the Second Coronavirus Wave
We’re just not built to sustain a state of high vigilance.
Who could sustain this indefinitely?
Photographer: ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/Getty Images
Drastic global measures to keep populations apart and slow the spread of the coronavirus could remain in place for months. That’s posing the difficult question of how long hundreds of millions of us can keep this Herculean effort going.
The signs from Asia, where the disease first appeared, aren’t encouraging. China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan have been mobilized since January. The strain is showing, with complacency emerging as the first wave of infections ebbs. Imported cases are on the rise, raising the risk of a second wave. If that happens, President Xi Jinping’s celebrated visit to Wuhan this month may start to look as premature as U.S. President George W. Bush’s infamous “mission accomplished” speech in 2003.