A swaying between successive pandemic waves and pandemic fatigue: Where does Jordan stand?

Abstract

This article highlights the main aspects of Jordan's public health response in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, it briefly describes the main characteristics of the pandemic waves. Although Jordan has successfully implemented various stringent control measures at the early stage of the pandemic which resulted in a slow pace of COVID-19 spread in the country, the dramatic and sudden surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths since September 2020 raises many concerns and questionable debates regarding the effectiveness of Jordan's COVID-19 mitigation strategies, the earlier epidemiological surveillance process, decision-making and decisions' execution at various sectors, as well as the degree of commitment to precautionary measures among the general population. Jordan has passed through three distinct pandemic stages so far, and each stage provides lessons that can be used to improve the national preparedness and response plan in the future. This pandemic has afflicted most life domains; thus, sharing the responsibility and efforts between the government and people in combating it, is expected to be more efficient and effective than a one-sided response. Pandemic fatigue can act as a major risk factor for losing such a battle. The people of Jordan have been already through an unforgettable 2020 year that impacted them physically, emotionally, and even financially. Therefore, reliable actions should be considered by the decision-makers to provide sufficient support for the society. Also, strengthening the government-public partnership is a cornerstone for a successful, solid, and effective public health response, especially in times of an exhaustive pandemic crisis like the COVID-19.

Occupational burnout and job satisfaction among physicians in times of COVID-19 crisis: a convergent parallel mixed-method study

“…The lockdown alongside other declared measures has placed the general population including healthcare workers under a new experience that possessed social, emotional, psychological, and financial impacts [6][7][8][9]. As of April 19, 2021, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, active cases, and deaths in Jordan were 689,482, 36,688, and 8308, respectively, with a surge since early September 2020 [10,11]. The sudden and accelerated rise in the number of COVID-19 cases has imposed an additional burden on decisionmakers, healthcare professionals (HCPs) as well as the general population in the country [11].…”

“…As of April 19, 2021, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, active cases, and deaths in Jordan were 689,482, 36,688, and 8308, respectively, with a surge since early September 2020 [10,11]. The sudden and accelerated rise in the number of COVID-19 cases has imposed an additional burden on decisionmakers, healthcare professionals (HCPs) as well as the general population in the country [11].…”

Construction and Validation of a Brief Pandemic Fatigue Scale in the Context of the Coronavirus-19 Public Health Crisis

“…Furthermore, throughout this long time, people have been continuously exposed to information overload related to COVID-19, with daily and repeated information on the number of infections, deaths, changes in measures, opening and closing of areas, relaxation and tightening of restrictions, etc. This resulting constant state of alert and uncertainty has become emotionally exhausting for many individuals [2,3]. The large and repetitive implementation of invasive measure to mitigate COVID-19 consequences, as well as the overexposition to negative pandemic-related information, has supposed a natural psychological response of pandemic fatigue (PF) on individuals [4].…”

Yet another lockdown? A large-scale study on people's unwillingness to be confined during the first 5 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

“…In terms of gender, there are 8,237 (41%) and 11,817 (59%) answers by women and men, respectively. We group the age of our participants into four possible age buckets: [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29], [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49], [50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59] and 60+, with 9%, 44%, 27% and 20% of the answers, respectively.…”