WEBVTT - Quarantine Fatigue Is Real

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<v Speaker 1>It's Tuesday a I'm Oscar Ramrrors from the Daily Dive

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<v Speaker 1>podcast in Los Angeles, and this is your daily coronavirus update.

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<v Speaker 1>The quarantine fatigue is real. Researchers analyzing smartphone data are

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<v Speaker 1>finding that more Americans are venturing out despite stay at

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<v Speaker 1>home orders. Work trips have remained about the same, but

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<v Speaker 1>personal trips are starting to increase, and so were trips

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<v Speaker 1>between counties and state lines. There's also some confusion in

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<v Speaker 1>states announced plans to open back up. Some think they

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<v Speaker 1>can start easing up on staying at home. The US

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<v Speaker 1>has never ordered so many to stay at home all

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<v Speaker 1>at once, and we might be seeing the limits that

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<v Speaker 1>citizens are willing to handle. Katherine Shaver, reporter at the

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<v Speaker 1>Washington Post, joins us for how people are over quarantine.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for joining us, Katherine, good to be here, Thank you.

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<v Speaker 1>I wanted to talk about quarantine fatigue. It's real, and

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<v Speaker 1>researchers right now are finding that Americans are starting to

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<v Speaker 1>venture out a little bit more despite a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>stay at home orders. A quick story case and point

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<v Speaker 1>on all this. I live in California, in Los Angeles,

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<v Speaker 1>and we've seen this happen across the country. In some

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<v Speaker 1>other states, but local officials have made these efforts to

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<v Speaker 1>keep public beaches, parks, and big open spaces accessible for

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<v Speaker 1>people for mental and physical well being. This past weekend,

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<v Speaker 1>we had a heat wave and people went out to

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<v Speaker 1>the beach in droves in Orange County specifically, the whole

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<v Speaker 1>state isn't open up like that, and we saw a

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<v Speaker 1>bunch of pictures. The governor of California kind of was

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<v Speaker 1>shaking his finger at people, saying that's not the way

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<v Speaker 1>to do it. But people are getting tired of staying

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<v Speaker 1>at home, and as this thing keeps going, we don't

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<v Speaker 1>have a lot of end dates in sight. People are

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<v Speaker 1>getting restless. So Captain tell us a little bit more

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<v Speaker 1>about this. Because researchers have been tracking smartphone data to

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<v Speaker 1>see how people are staying at home or not. They've

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<v Speaker 1>been looking at the location data from our smartphone apps,

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<v Speaker 1>and basically, on any day when a phone travels more

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<v Speaker 1>than a mile, they assume that that phone is not

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<v Speaker 1>staying home that day that it made a trip. And

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<v Speaker 1>they've been looking at this since the middle of March.

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<v Speaker 1>When they stay at homeowners began to effect and the

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<v Speaker 1>data is aggregated, it's anonymous or not tracking where you

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<v Speaker 1>and your cell phone are individually going. But as they

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<v Speaker 1>started to look at it, the percentage of people staying

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<v Speaker 1>home with the percentage of their phone staying home grew

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<v Speaker 1>gradually for several weeks after mid March, and then a

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<v Speaker 1>kind of plateaued at about thirty three to percent of

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<v Speaker 1>the country on average. But what really worried them was

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<v Speaker 1>starting the week of April, they noticed that the percent

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<v Speaker 1>started to decline, and in fact, by the end of

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<v Speaker 1>the week April seventeen, it had dropped at on average nationwide.

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<v Speaker 1>So they're really worried about this shift and momentum. And

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<v Speaker 1>the reason they're really worried is it's not like people

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<v Speaker 1>started going back to work. The percentage of trips that

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<v Speaker 1>were non work trips pretty much stayed the same. But

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<v Speaker 1>the number of trips that people were taking for personal reasons,

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<v Speaker 1>going out to the store, maybe going you know, driving

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<v Speaker 1>out to apart to take a walk, those are the

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<v Speaker 1>trips that went up, and so that's what really concerned them.

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<v Speaker 1>What there was this shift and momentum of people who

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<v Speaker 1>apparently are getting restless, board lonely, and really starting to

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<v Speaker 1>venture out more. And it's pretty noteworthy. I mean, really,

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<v Speaker 1>this is the first pandemic that many of us have

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<v Speaker 1>experienced that you know, everybody always goes back to the

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<v Speaker 1>Spanish flu of nineteen eighteen. That's so long ago, and

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<v Speaker 1>really this hasn't been done in the modern era, and

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<v Speaker 1>nobody knows how much people will tolerate. There's other countries

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<v Speaker 1>that have lockdown orders that have happened before, but the

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<v Speaker 1>United States doesn't really do that, and we don't know

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<v Speaker 1>how much people will take. And you mentioned some of

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<v Speaker 1>the numbers. You know, a dip from like thirty four

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<v Speaker 1>or thirty three down it doesn't seem like much, but

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<v Speaker 1>these sample sizes are so big because they're looking at

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<v Speaker 1>so much data that any movement there is kind of significant.

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<v Speaker 1>And what I found was really interesting was the public

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<v Speaker 1>health experts I spoke with said, we know how long

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<v Speaker 1>people are willing to maybe stay quarantined in their house.

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<v Speaker 1>Like during H one and one, some people were quarantined.

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<v Speaker 1>During Stars one, some people were quarantined, but usually that's

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<v Speaker 1>for about fourteen days to twenty one days max. And

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<v Speaker 1>those are usually such targeted quarantines that local health officials

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<v Speaker 1>can check it with folks every day. And how are

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<v Speaker 1>you feeling just a reminder you need to stay isolated,

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<v Speaker 1>keep going, and that's how they prevent quarantine fatigue in

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<v Speaker 1>those situations. But you're right, nobody has any idea how

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<v Speaker 1>on a nationwide scale, when you don't have somebody calling

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<v Speaker 1>you every day and saying keep going, Nobody knows how

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<v Speaker 1>long people are going to be willing to put up

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<v Speaker 1>with cavin fever for the greater good or to protect

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<v Speaker 1>my family. So they're very intrigued by all of this

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<v Speaker 1>and what do they need to do to kind of

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<v Speaker 1>keep people going into these extraordinary circumstances. It's so tough

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<v Speaker 1>even for health officials and local government officials. It would

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<v Speaker 1>be almost impossible, probably the wrong way to approach it

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<v Speaker 1>if they said, you know what, guys were really going

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<v Speaker 1>to be locked down until June. That's why we're getting

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<v Speaker 1>these kind of well the orders extended until May fifteenth.

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<v Speaker 1>The order is extended to because if you just say, hey,

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<v Speaker 1>we're gone for two months, people are gonna start rebelling

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<v Speaker 1>initially and then beyond that, you know, you see some

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<v Speaker 1>other states starting to reopen thing. There could be a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit of that kind of jealousy thing almost like

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<v Speaker 1>why can they go out and play and we can't.

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<v Speaker 1>So I'm sure you're gonna start seeing this a lot

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<v Speaker 1>more everywhere, and the confusion that so's also some governors

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<v Speaker 1>are starting to say, well, we're formulating those plans, we

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<v Speaker 1>will start opening soon, and people are probably taking that

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<v Speaker 1>as well. I can start easing my own restrictions. Now

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<v Speaker 1>I'm wearing my face mask. Let's just go out now.

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<v Speaker 1>I spoke with one public health expertise said, it's kind

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<v Speaker 1>of like a kid right before Christmas. You start hearing

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<v Speaker 1>about governors talking about reopening economies, and people start thinking, well, really,

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<v Speaker 1>how bad could it be. We'll put on my face mask,

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<v Speaker 1>I'll stay six feet away from people. But they say

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<v Speaker 1>they're really concerned because the more people are venturing out,

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<v Speaker 1>the more likely they are to be in places like

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<v Speaker 1>grocery stores or drug stores. And you can do all

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<v Speaker 1>you can to try to limit your exposure, but you

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<v Speaker 1>are still increasing the risk of transmission. Beyond that, it

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<v Speaker 1>takes a little bit of time to gather the data

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<v Speaker 1>and then crunch the numbers. We won't know for a

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<v Speaker 1>couple of weeks. Let's say if these people that have

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<v Speaker 1>started moving a little bit early might have come down

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<v Speaker 1>with coronavirus, increased number of cases is or hospitalizations or

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<v Speaker 1>death We won't know that for some time as well.

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<v Speaker 1>The medical experts I talked to said they're very curious

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<v Speaker 1>about whether the increase in travel is going to lead

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<v Speaker 1>to an increase in hospitalizations and deaths. They say they

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<v Speaker 1>can't really look at whether, at least for an increase

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<v Speaker 1>in just cases overall, because testing is still so limited

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<v Speaker 1>that that's not really a reliable indicator. But it's going

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<v Speaker 1>to take at least several weeks to start saying if

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<v Speaker 1>more people end up in the hospital or more people

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<v Speaker 1>end up dying, and then they might be able to

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<v Speaker 1>look back and say, hey, that's when that county started

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<v Speaker 1>to have people venture out, or that's when that state

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<v Speaker 1>lifted restrictions and people started going out. About one last

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<v Speaker 1>note about how people are moving. Personal daily trips had

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<v Speaker 1>increased about four and then trips between counties and states

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<v Speaker 1>also increased. And basically if you're out or you haven't

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<v Speaker 1>moved for more than ten minutes or so, you're kind

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<v Speaker 1>of still classified as staying at home. But everything is

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<v Speaker 1>basically starting to increase in some form or another. The

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<v Speaker 1>way they say that we're going to start saying this.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not like people hit the wall and us run

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<v Speaker 1>screaming out of their homes and saying, you know, I'm

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<v Speaker 1>I'm going back to life as normal. It's really more

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<v Speaker 1>of kind of a slippery slope where we start bending

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<v Speaker 1>the rules. Or maybe a few weeks ago, we would

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<v Speaker 1>go to the grocery store on Monday and we would

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<v Speaker 1>get everything we needed for the next eight days and

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<v Speaker 1>we wouldn't go back out again. But maybe now by Friday,

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<v Speaker 1>my bananas are starting to get a little brown, or

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<v Speaker 1>I'm running a little low on ice cream, and I'm

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<v Speaker 1>also thinking, you know, I've been stuck at home for

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<v Speaker 1>five days. I just want to get a breath of

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<v Speaker 1>fresh air, change of scenery. I'm just going to run

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<v Speaker 1>out to Target and maybe making another run. So now

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<v Speaker 1>I've made two trips in my week instead of one.

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<v Speaker 1>And that's what they're really concerned about. We all just

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<v Speaker 1>start loosening up just a little bit, and that's what

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<v Speaker 1>they're afraid of. An aggregate could become a real problem.

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<v Speaker 1>The numbers are starting to show it, and itcnotally. I

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<v Speaker 1>can tell you that that quarantine fatigue is real. People

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<v Speaker 1>are just telling me all over the place they're itching

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<v Speaker 1>to get out and making these shorter trips, and and

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<v Speaker 1>doing it more frequently. So we'll have to be vigilant

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<v Speaker 1>with all of this to stop the spread. But it's hard.

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<v Speaker 1>It really is. Catherine Shaver, reporter, The Washington Post. Thank

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<v Speaker 1>you very much for joining us, Thanks for having me.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Oscar Ramirez and this has been your daily coronavirus update.

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<v Speaker 1>Don't forget that. For today's big news stories, you can

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<v Speaker 1>check me out on the Daily Dive podcast every Monday

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<v Speaker 1>through Friday, So follow us on I Heart Radio or

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<v Speaker 1>wherever you get your podcasts