November marks the eighth month since the novel coronavirus pandemic began causing shutdowns across the country, upending life as we knew it. 

In the months since, as the disease has killed over 235,000 Americans and infected over 10 million, health experts, government officials and community leaders have urged people to practice precautions like wearing a face covering, practicing social distancing and frequently washing their hands. 

Many people, however, are finding it increasingly difficult to follow those guidelines as they grow weary of living in the pandemic. Experts at places like John Hopkins Medicine have termed this phenomena “COVID fatigue.” 

This feeling or emotional state can happen to anyone – including those who once exercised extreme caution with the virus. 

In interviews with the Republic-Times, Monroe County residents described a variety of actions they once took to reduce their risks of catching or transmitting COVID-19, including staying home, washing and sanitizing everything, having groceries delivered and wearing a mask. 

“I had no idea how bad this was, so I thought it was better to be safe than sorry,” said Ariana Bauer, a Columbia resident who described herself as having been “COVID crazy.” “I was concerned about the safety of my family and children.” 

Hillary Kaufmann of Waterloo was pregnant when the pandemic struck, making her that much more cautious. 

“It was important (to take precautions) in the beginning because, as I said, no one knew anything about it yet,” she said. “For all I knew, it was the black plague coming for us, and growing a human being made it that much scarier. It was also important because I have people in my family who have underlying health issues that I worry about.” 

As with many individuals, that level of vigilance did not last. 

Locals told the newspaper they maintained that level of caution for anywhere from one to five months before relaxing or eliminating their precautionary approach. 

That can take the form of returning to places like the grocery store, sanitizing less and only wearing a mask when required. 

“I wear a mask at work because I am forced to,” Sam Haag of Columbia said. “Otherwise, I am living life as normal as I can.” 

Some people, however, are still successfully battling COVID fatigue and managing to continue exercising precautions. 

“I want to avoid becoming ill, and I especially want to avoid passing a virus onto my elderly mother,” said one such individual, Laura Gidley-Feltz of Columbia. “Of course, I don’t want to be the person that spread COVID to anyone.”

The reasons for no longer exercising extreme caution varied among the people who spoke to the Republic-Times, though they all fell into one of the 14 risk perception factors researched by scholar David Ropeik. 

Those factors include trust in those providing information, whether a risk is imposed or voluntary, whether a risk is catastrophic or chronic, how dreadful a risk seems, how difficult a risk is to understand, awareness of the risk, uncertainty about the risk, how familiar a risk is, whether the risk has any personal impact and whether it there is a benefit from taking a risk. 

Specifically, individuals indicated trust, scope, awareness, familiarity, personal impact and the fun factor as factors that influenced their perception of the risks of the coronavirus. 

Bauer cited the high rates of survival for people the age of her and her children as one example that helped make her less cautions. 

“Seeing that it does not spread as quickly as we thought (and) seeing that it is treatable and not the death sentence that it was made out to be” also influenced her thinking, she said. 

Bauer also said she knew people who work in medical settings who seem unafraid of the pandemic. 

Similarly, Kaufmann said she knows people who have contracted COVID-19 and had minimal symptoms – though she acknowledged she knows a person who was in the intensive care unit for over a month and still has not fully recovered. 

“My behavior has changed because I see how little it affects younger people like myself,” she said. “I still worry about the elderly because I feel it targets them. The survival rate is high enough (that) I’m not very worried. I have a family friend who is in Oak Hill, 94 years old, and all she got was a cough. But, again, it affects people so differently that’s what’s scary.

“I’m just less cautious in general because I feel like everyone will probably get it, and it really doesn’t seem as serious as a lot of people and media are pushing it to look.” 

Haag said his attitude shifted after he had a mild case of the virus in April. 

“If doing everything humanly possible to avoid it didn’t work, why bother?” he said. “My concern has lessened after having it and beating it and seeing the survival rate is substantially higher than originally speculated.” 

For her part, Gidley-Feltz said she understood the difficulties of following experts’ recommendations. 

“I think in general it will be tougher to continue to follow the public health guidelines because they keep changing and people are getting tired of all the restrictions,” she said. “I sympathize with the business owners who are just trying to stay in business. I would like everyone to keep their businesses but for everyone to stay safe as well.” 

To help with that, Gidley-Feltz advocated being informed about the risks COVID-19 can pose to anyone. 

“Everyone should educate themselves about COVID,” she said. “The (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s) website is a great source of information, I’d recommend learning about COVID before you get it.” 

Staying informed is one of several tips experts give for those wanting to maintain their vigilance. 

For advice on how to combat COVID fatigue, click here.