Letters to the Editor: You have COVID ‘fatigue’ on Christmas? Try being a nurse or doctor

To the editor: I’ve read many references to COVID-19 “fatigue” in articles about people failing to follow health orders, choosing instead to travel and gather outside their households. I find myself a little skeptical about this concept. (“COVID-19: The gift that keeps on taking,” editorial, Dec. 24)

Yes, there are the stories of individuals who faithfully follow the rules and then decide to go to a party or bar and then contract the virus. But what I see more often are people who from almost the beginning have flouted public health orders to varying degrees, and all with similar rationales: It’s just a small group, it’s a yearly tradition, we will follow the safety precautions and so forth.

What I am fatigued by are so many people ignoring the pleas of overwhelmed doctors and nurses not to travel or gather. For me, it’s less tiring to do what’s right than try to figure out ways to get around the health orders.

Maureen Discipulo, Redondo Beach

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To the editor: Your editorial’s clear warning about the “gift that keeps on taking” ought to be enough.

You remind us there has been widespread defiance of state and county pandemic orders. We the people are being revealed as those who pledge liberty and justice for all with our lips only. We hold aloft self-interested leaders and create an environment where death by knee, by gun or by non-masking occur.

We the people and our elected leaders have reached a nadir.

From this point forward, we and our leaders must be guided by the ideal of delayed gratification. We need to forgo gathering in homes and houses of worship for the sake of all over lives.

But in order for all to have a chance at behaving this way, we need a government committed to passing an economic stimulus for the many households that need it.

Mary Leah Plante, Los Angeles