Ryan Brewer
reporter
Covid-fatigue is the decline of many early pandemic mandates. The term originates from retail workers lacking on upkeep for such pandemic mandates.
“Covid fatigue is quite real, honestly I’m sick about hearing of the damned virus,” NE student Jonathan Holland said. “I think [the way TCC is handling pandemic mandates] is fine, I feel safe enough.”
Most of TCC still follow the guidelines of early COVID-19 mandates, promoting virus safety among students and faculty alike. The NE library handles the checkout of books every week.
“We sanitize the books and computers with a UV light,” NE librarian Bob Kapsos said. “Staff wear masks and we wipe down surfaces frequently. We really did not like it when we couldn’t let students inside over the remote learning courses, but now we ask everyone to follow the safety guidelines poster.”
The safety poster in question depicts the washing of hands and use of sanitizer, coughing or sneezing into the elbow, practicing patience and the consistent disposal of trash. These actions help keep students and staff safe through the transition to on campus classes. Faculty and staff refuse to let Covid-fatigue set in.
Pharmacies such as Walgreens are different. Face masks and Plexiglas partitions stand between patients and pharmacy techs as they continue their services through the pandemic mandates. Pharmacists and pharmacy techs continue to administer vaccinations every day.
“I have seen an increase in vaccinations since the FDA approved the COVID-19 vaccine, as some patients were waiting for that,” Ashley Domino, a pharmacist of Walgreens said. “We administer about 200 vaccines a week, and it has been increasing steadily since the FDA approval [on Aug. 23rd].”
As a larger percentage of Texans get vaccinated, mandates are beginning to slowly ease up not from Covid-fatigue, but from a lack of requiring them. As the different varieties of covid vaccines are administered through pharmacies as well as the TCC health center, a sense of returning to normalcy can be seen on the horizon.
“Being able to talk to people about their concerns and sharing the facts has helped my patients feel more comfortable about their decision to get the vaccine,” Domino said. “I would recommend that anyone unsure about getting the shot talk to a trusted health professional.”
