Longitudinal Changes in COVID-19 Concern and Stress: Pandemic Fatigue Overrides Individual Differences in Caution

Abstract

Pandemic fatigue refers to when people decrease in their COVID-19 concern over time, despite their risk for infection remaining stable, or even increasing. Using data collected from a large community cohort in McLennan County, TX, we examined longitudinal changes in COVID-19-related concern, stress, and affect across three appointments separated by approximately four weeks (July–November 2020). Results revealed four classes of individuals: (a) Low Concern, Low Stress, (b) Moderate Concern, Moderate Stress, (c) Moderate Concern, Low Stress, and (d) High Concern, High Stress. Despite differences between classes in mean levels of concern and stress each variable decreased over time for all groups. While this reduction of concern did not generally coincide with changes in local travel, it was reflected in heart rate and blood pressure. Together, these results suggest a general trend of pandemic fatigue in the sample, even for those with moderate-to-high levels of initial COVID-19 stress and concern.