“Pandemic fatigue.”

What a peculiar phrase!

Yes, yes, I realize it’s being used by very smart people as a warning to us. But no matter how you read it, it’s weird.

The pandemic is not a TV series you can turn off when you get bored, or a football game with a gross disparity in the score going into the fourth quarter. Whether you’re bored or not is irrelevant to the virus. It doesn’t give a shit if you’re tired of being vigilant. Your boredom does not cause the virus to turn off, to give you a break.

The virus is a relentless, invisible enemy of life. If we were in a war with perceptible enemies who’ve occupied our cities, you wouldn’t be bored enough to take a break from non-violent, rational coping (wearing a mask, keeping a distance, washing our hands) and go out to have a drink with enemy soldiers.

You may be bored. The virus is not.

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