Last week, for the second week in a row, the Washington Post reports cell phone location data shows that people are venturing out of their homes more and more, likely due to “quarantine fatigue.”
Quarantine fatigue is a a desire to rebel against stay-at-home orders and recommendations in order to go out and participate in normal activities — similar to cabin fever, but more directly related to COVID-19 and the added isolation that have accompanied the virus, Yahoo! News reports.
The New York Times reports that quarantine fatigue is being observed in all but three states in the U.S., by the University of Maryland’s Maryland Transportation Institute.
It’s no surprise that people are starting to get tired of staying at home, as the Hill reports that in many areas where people have been under lockdown for more than a month, they’re bored, they’re lonely, and they’re frustrated with their situations.
Lei Zhang, the director of the Maryland Transportation Institute, told the New York Times he started to notice the decrease in staying home right after states hit the one-month mark. While he says it’s possible that people are still trying to social distance as they leave the home, wearing masks gloves and staying six feet apart, it is unlikely that is happening in many cases.
“It seems collectively we’re getting a little tired. It looks like people are loosening up on their own to travel more,” Zhang told the Washington Examiner.
Despite fatigue, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend social distancing and staying at home as much as possible to slow the spread of COVID-19. While some areas are seeing decreased cases, we’re not out of the water yet.