{"id":27983,"date":"2021-08-15T17:22:04","date_gmt":"2021-08-15T22:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?p=27983"},"modified":"2022-11-14T13:48:35","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T19:48:35","slug":"covid-compassion-fatigue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue","title":{"rendered":"Covid Compassion Fatigue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Having a practice where just about every patient is immunized has its benefits.  Despite being in the midst of Covid-19\u2019s fourth surge with the Delta variant, we\u2019re seeing no new Covid cases. Phew!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other physicians aren\u2019t having such good fortune, as this doctor reports in The Atlantic<\/em>,<\/a> the first place I\u2019ve seen the term \u201c covid compassion fatigue.\u201d When the pandemic first hit two years ago, catching us all off-guard, those of us involved in health care–from physicians and lab techs to nurses, ambulance drivers, and hospital maintenance staff–felt their hearts breaking several times each day as the death tolls mounted and kept growing. Tragedy everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even back then there were deluded people, though, convinced the virus was a political hoax or maybe divine retribution. Some Covid sufferers took out their disbelief and anger on hospital staff and even cursed the nurses giving them oxygen. Experienced healthcare personnel know this type will always be around to make the day a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then came the vaccines, more effective than anyone dreamed and a hopeful light at the end of the tunnel. Who could have guessed that the highest rate of refusal, almost a third, would be among rural White Evangelical Republicans? Another group was less surprising: older Black Americans in the South, still distrustful after the evil Tuskegee syphilis experiment, which infected hundreds but provided no treatment even though penicillin was available. Click here for a shower of stats on who is and is not getting vaccinated<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vaccine avoidance affecting younger people<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Vaccine avoidance has created horrifying new hot spots throughout the US, especially in Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama. Many state governments are complicit. Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida has made it illegal for any business to demand patrons wear masks. Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has taken the same stance, although local school districts are defying him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just about everyone now hospitalized with Covid has Delta. And the numbers show that 97% of hospitalized Covid patients arrived unvaccinated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unsurprising because older adults were the very first to be immunized, the Delta variant is now affecting an unprotected younger population<\/a> (as well as unvaccinated adults). Hospitals in hotspot states, and especially ICU beds, are virtually at capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because many patients are younger than those in the original wave, the death rate is lower, but the illness remains devastating. It\u2019s worth underscoring that the overall symptoms, clinical course, and complications are all far worse among the unvaccinated than among vaccinated people who get Covid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delta is highly contagious<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As you\u2019ve undoubtedly read, Delta is extremely contagious, so contagious that it can be carried by a vaccinated person, though the virus is in a weakened state. This makes it difficult to transmit from one vaccinated person to another vaccinated person, though a vaccinated carrier can transmit to an unmasked unvaccinated person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there\u2019s also the emerging issue of reduced effectiveness over time of the mRNA vaccines (Moderna, Pfizer) against symptomatic Delta infection. The vaccines\u2019 effectiveness against hospitalization and death remains solid.  Click here for more<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The notorious Covid long-haul complications<\/a> (chronic fatigue, brain fog, nerve pain, lightheadedness) can certainly occur in Delta variant sufferers regardless of age. Moreover, scientists have recently uncovered an especially unpleasant variation: the appearance of classic long-haul symptoms occurring in people who have no recollection whatsoever of ever having Covid<\/a>. This is called asymptomatic Covid long haul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, doctors should be screening for Covid antibodies in any patient experiencing chronic fatigue, brain fog, etc., despite no history of Covid infection. Likely the only way to avoid this new cause of chronic fatigue syndrome is to get vaccinated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A word about \u201crights\u201d and \u201cfreedom\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you choose to be unvaccinated, I don\u2019t think you have the right to endanger the lives of everyone on a bus or train or in a restaurant, movie theatre, or airplane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also don\u2019t think you\u2019re free to choose to deny scientific evidence until the minute you get Covid and then change your mind, insisting everyone do everything to save you while you endanger the lives of your ambulance driver, doctors, and nurses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should you be lucky enough to avoid catching Covid, there will still be consequences. Let\u2019s say your favorite restaurant changes its entrance policy and now requires proof of vaccination before seating you. Deprived of your meal, you might give vaccination a second thought. Same for concerts. Good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signs on restaurants might start to change: \u201cNo shoes, no shirt, no shot, no service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you need help locating a Covid vaccine, just let us know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be well,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Edelberg, MD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having a practice where just about every patient is immunized has its benefits.  Despite being in the midst of Covid-19\u2019s fourth surge with the Delta variant, we\u2019re seeing no new Covid cases. Phew! Other physicians aren\u2019t having such good fortune, as this doctor reports in The Atlantic, the first place I\u2019ve seen the term \u201c […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2087,"featured_media":27988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2269,226,3,1975,2318],"tags":[2284,2149,2150,2231,2276,2245],"class_list":["post-27983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid","category-immune-system","category-knowledge-base","category-respiratory-health","category-tot-21-blogs-of-21","tag-compassion-fatigue","tag-covid","tag-covid-19","tag-covid-19-vaccine","tag-long-covid-symptoms","tag-long-haulers"],"yoast_head":"\r\nCovid Compassion Fatigue<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The first place I\u2019ve seen the term \u201c covid compassion fatigue" was by a doctor reporting in The Atlantic.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Covid Compassion Fatigue\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The first place I\u2019ve seen the term \u201c covid compassion fatigue" was by a doctor reporting in The Atlantic.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WholeHealth Chicago\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wholehealthchicago\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-15T22:22:04+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-14T19:48:35+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Compassion-Fatigue-copy.jpeg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"998\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"wholehealthchicago\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@wholehealthchi\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@wholehealthchi\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"wholehealthchicago\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue\",\"name\":\"Covid Compassion Fatigue\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Compassion-Fatigue-copy.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-15T22:22:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-14T19:48:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8f28cef347f94e6801d2bdd38b9cea19\"},\"description\":\"The first place I\u2019ve seen the term \u201c covid compassion fatigue\\\" was by a doctor reporting in The Atlantic.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Compassion-Fatigue-copy.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Compassion-Fatigue-copy.jpeg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":998,\"caption\":\"Covid Compassion Fatigue\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Covid Compassion Fatigue\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"WholeHealth Chicago\",\"description\":\"WholeHealth Chicago is the Midwest's oldest and most respected center for integrative care, successfully blending the latest advances in conventional medicine with a wide range of clinically proven alternative therapies.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8f28cef347f94e6801d2bdd38b9cea19\",\"name\":\"wholehealthchicago\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b63bce17acaeb51f185933c60fa6fa86c347679a70b79ec51e5b772e271a469f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b63bce17acaeb51f185933c60fa6fa86c347679a70b79ec51e5b772e271a469f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"wholehealthchicago\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/author\/wholehealthchicago\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Covid Compassion Fatigue","description":"The first place I\u2019ve seen the term \u201c covid compassion fatigue\" was by a doctor reporting in The Atlantic.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Covid Compassion Fatigue","og_description":"The first place I\u2019ve seen the term \u201c covid compassion fatigue\" was by a doctor reporting in The Atlantic.","og_url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue","og_site_name":"WholeHealth Chicago","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wholehealthchicago","article_published_time":"2021-08-15T22:22:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-11-14T19:48:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1500,"height":998,"url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Compassion-Fatigue-copy.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"wholehealthchicago","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@wholehealthchi","twitter_site":"@wholehealthchi","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"wholehealthchicago","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue","url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue","name":"Covid Compassion Fatigue","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Compassion-Fatigue-copy.jpeg","datePublished":"2021-08-15T22:22:04+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-14T19:48:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8f28cef347f94e6801d2bdd38b9cea19"},"description":"The first place I\u2019ve seen the term \u201c covid compassion fatigue\" was by a doctor reporting in The Atlantic.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Compassion-Fatigue-copy.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Compassion-Fatigue-copy.jpeg","width":1500,"height":998,"caption":"Covid Compassion Fatigue"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/15\/covid-compassion-fatigue#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Covid Compassion Fatigue"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/","name":"WholeHealth Chicago","description":"WholeHealth Chicago is the Midwest's oldest and most respected center for integrative care, successfully blending the latest advances in conventional medicine with a wide range of clinically proven alternative therapies.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8f28cef347f94e6801d2bdd38b9cea19","name":"wholehealthchicago","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b63bce17acaeb51f185933c60fa6fa86c347679a70b79ec51e5b772e271a469f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b63bce17acaeb51f185933c60fa6fa86c347679a70b79ec51e5b772e271a469f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"wholehealthchicago"},"url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/author\/wholehealthchicago"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2087"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27983"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28003,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27983\/revisions\/28003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}