Got ‘quarantine fatigue’? Have coping mechanism to fight it, says DOH

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday advised the public to have a coping mechanism should they experience “quarantine fatigue” because of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

During the Laging Handa press briefing, DOH spokesperson USec. Maria Rosario Vergeire described what people with quarantine fatigue experience.

“People feel reckless, people feel anxious, they’re irritable, meron po silang (they have) social withdrawal. Meron pong mga (They also have) loss of motivation because of reduced productivity,” Vergeire said.

“Ito po yung mga nakikita nating mga senyales and we just advise people na kailangan lang po talaga that we will have that coping mechanism,” she added.

(These are the signs and we just advise people to have that coping mechanism.)

Aside from this, Vergeire also advised the public to “stay connected” with friends and loved ones to combat quarantine fatigue.

“Stay connected, di naman kailangan lumabas para maging connected (it doesn’t mean that you have to go outside to be connected). You can use your social media to do that,” the DOH official said.

“Always call your friends, your loved ones, and of course kailangan din po na may iba po tayong pinagkakalibangan (we also need to have other ways to keep ourselves entertained),” she added.

The World Health Organization (WHO) earlier said rising levels of “COVID-19 fatigue” are being seen in Europe after months of lockdowns, uncertainty, and disruption of normal life.

Meanwhile, the Philippines, which has one of the longest COVID-19 lockdowns in the world, currently has 354,338 coronavirus cases, with 295,312 recoveries and 6,603 deaths.

/MUF