Psychological fatigue with social distancing is emerging as a major challenge for curbing a pandemic now into its eighth month. That鈥檚 especially so among young adults who are less fearful of the coronavirus, and suffer greater economic and social costs when they stay home.
From Japan to Spain and the US, infections among millennials and Generation Z are driving new waves of cases which don鈥檛 seem to be abating despite re-imposed restrictions. The worrying trend reflects that social distancing curbs are proving untenable over a long period, despite their initial efficacy in flattening the virus curve across the world earlier this year.
鈥淭hey are the people who are most economically and socially affected with lockdowns, but who are least affected by the disease,鈥 said Peter Collignon, a professor of clinical medicine at the Australian National University Medical School in Canberra, 鈥淭he problem we鈥檝e got is people we most need to change their behavior are the 20- and 30-year-olds.鈥
The fact that younger people are less at risk for a severe COVID-19 infection or death has emboldened them to breach the rules as job mount. Young adults are stepping out for reasons that range from commuting for work or care-giving to visiting bars and nightclubs, and even disturbing instances of to deliberately get infected.
This has caused public figures like Anthony Fauci, director of US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to ask the younger population to be and not be a 鈥減art of the propagation of a pandemic.鈥
For governments facing aggressive resurgences and an effective vaccine still months away, there are few options besides the plea to stay home.
鈥淗ow do you maintain behavior in that group, when the consequences for them medically are much less than 70 or 80-years olds, yet the economic consequences are much higher for them?鈥 Collignon said, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a dilemma that I don鈥檛 know the answer to.鈥 鈥 Bloomberg
