Public attitudes: Covid Rates Are Climbing in Los Angeles, but Residents Are Weary

It’s that time of year, when rising Covid cases collide with holiday plans. Hospitalizations in Los Angeles County have nearly tripled in the past month, and the county is talking about a possible mask mandate.

It’s the same line of thinking that Los Angeles County leaders had when Covid cases rose this summer. And there was a time when masks were required at the county’s airports and on public transit even though state and federal requirements had been relaxed.

But a mask decree now would land in a region where social habits and emotions about Covid have greatly shifted since the previous two winters of rising cases.

Over the last several months, as people were finally getting to see friends and family, taking trips and eating in restaurants, their attention spans began to wane concerning Covid risks.

And when it comes to masking, many people are over it — an attitude we wrote about Wednesday.

Much of that is because vaccines and boosters have created what feels like a safer world. And for those who have already had Covid and survived, the virus has become less scary.

...

Robert Wachter, the chair of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco... said it was perfectly natural for people to shift from concern for a community to a more individualistic approach after nearly three years of a pandemic, especially now that there are vaccines, treatments and mitigation strategies that are known to be effective.

But he warned people not to let their guards down. “Exhaustion doesn’t feel like a great excuse to no longer take the precautions you would have taken for the same risk a year ago,” he said.

...

.