SYDNEY, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Sydney's COVID-19 cases fell to the lowest in two months on Tuesday as authorities rolled out support measures for businesses, shifting their focus to rejuvenating the economy after the city exited a nearly four-month lockdown a day earlier.
Pubs, cafes and retail stores reopened in New South Wales (NSW), home to Sydney, on Monday after vaccination levels in the state's adult population crossed 70%.
New daily infections in the state fell to 360 on Tuesday, the majority in Sydney, marking a steady downward trend.
"It is going to be boom time in New South Wales for every single business and worker across our state," Premier Dominic Perrottet said during a media briefing on Tuesday as he unveiled a support package for firms to help them prepare for a "bright summer".
Perrottet said businesses will be compensated for any COVID-19 lockdowns in December and January, encouraging them to stock up ahead of the busy summer holiday period. Under the plan, small firms can access grants of up to A$20,000 ($14,690) if they are forced to close then.
People walk through a shopping mall as businesses re-open to vaccinated patrons in the wake of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) regulations easing, following months of lockdown orders to curb the rise in the number of cases, in Sydney, Australia, October 12, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott
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Sydney, along with Melbourne and Australia's capital Canberra, are in the grip of a third wave of infections fuelled by the highly infectious Delta variant, with all cities looking to begin easing curbs in stages when full vaccination rates reach 70%, 80% and 90%.
Canberra is on track to exit its lockdown on Friday, joining Sydney, as inoculations neared 75% there.
The vaccination rate in Victoria, which includes Melbourne, is expected to top 70% in people above 16 around late October, when some curbs will ease. It reported 1,466 cases on Tuesday, the lowest in six days.
The federal government has been pressing states to begin living with the virus when vaccination rates reach 70%-80% but some virus-free states said they may delay their reopening amid concerns that a surge in cases will overwhelm their health systems.
Higher vaccination levels among the most vulnerable population has helped Australia to keep the death rate from the Delta strain lower than last year's outbreaks. It has recorded some 131,400 cases and 1,461 deaths since the pandemic began.
($1 = 1.3615 Australian dollars)
Reporting by Renju Jose; Editing by Kim Coghill
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
APPLETON - Mayor Jake Woodford and city staff have recommended using $2 million in federal funds from theAmerican Rescue Plan Actto help pay for the renovation and expansion of the Appleton Public Library.
The money could cover cost overruns if the library exceeds its $26.4 million budget, or the money could lower the local tax burden if the project comeswithin budget.
"It could supplement (the budget), but it also could reduce the borrowing," Woodford told The Post-Crescent. "It's not been determined at this point so relatively early in the design process and in cost estimation."
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)is a $1.9 trillion package designed to facilitate the nation's recovery from the economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It authorizes substantial aid to local governments, including $14.9 million to Appleton.
That's a slight increase from an earlier estimate of $14.76 million.
Woodford and Appleton Finance Director Tony Saucerman recommended that Appleton's total be channeled through two city budgets: $6.9 million in the 2021 budget and $8 million in the 2022 budget.
The$2 million for the library would be part of the 2021 budget amendment. Other allocations for the 2021 funds include $2 million for future COVID-19 expenditures, $1.5 million for Appleton's parking utility and $1 million for replacing lead water pipes.
The Finance Committee reviewed and endorsed the 2021 package Monday. It will be considered by the Common Council on Oct. 20.
The ARPA money must be spent by the end of 2024.
RELATED:Appleton raises aldermanic salaries by 8.5% starting in 2023
RELATED:Appleton residents awed by library plansbut worry about parking
Woodford said local governments have taken various approaches for the use of ARPA funds. Some have focused on municipal projects. Othershave targeted programming or debt reduction.
"We tried to gather as much community input as we could," Woodford said. "We put together a list of recommendations that tries to make headway on a variety of community and municipal priorities."
Council member Matt Reed, following a suggestion by council member Sheri Hartzheim, sought to amend the plan to retainthe $1.5 million for the parking utility and $1 million for the lead pipe replacement program but to use the remaining ARPA funds to pay for the construction of a second raw water line from Lake Winnebago to the water treatment plant. The $9.8 million project is scheduled for 2023.
The water project, though, normally would be funded by water customers. IfAppleton were to pay for the project with ARPA funds, it would be subsidizing wholesale water customers in Grand Chute, Harrison and Sherwood. Together, they total about 30% of revenues.
"Those wholesale customers wouldn't be paying their portion," Appleton Utilities Director Chris Shaw said.
Once that became clear, Reed withdrew his amendment.
Council member Brad Firkus supported the allocations as recommended by Woodford.
"At the end of the day, we live in a community and not a spreadsheet, and we need to invest in some of those things that make our community a more livable and more enjoyable place," Firkus said.
The library money is categorized under broadband access and information infrastructure, whichis an allowable ARPA use.
Woodford and Saucerman said in a memorandum to the council that the investment would "provide better internet and information access to our residents."
Appleton has allocated or spent nearly all of the previous grants it received to support its COVID-19 response, so the additional $2 million wouldensure the city can continue to respond to the pandemic.
Covered expenses would be comparable to those under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Reliefand Economic Security (CARES) Act:personal protective equipment, contact investigation, disease mitigation, testing and vaccination operations,and personnel costs forpublic health andsafety employees.
ARPA funds can be used by municipalities to replace lost revenue, and the Appleton operation suffering the greatest revenue loss was the parking utility. Employees who normally would park downtown have been working from home during the pandemic.
"It should cover most of the lost revenues," Saucerman said. "It may not cover everything, but it wouldget us back on solid footing."
Appleton has a program to replace public lead water service lines, and the ARPA funds would empower the city to finish the job.
"Staff believes this allocation would enable abatement of all known remaining public lead service lines in the city of Appleton," Woodford and Saucerman said. "If there are any remaining funds after lead service lines are addressed, those funds would be directed to eligible sewer/water infrastructure projects."
Most of the ARPA support for community partners and programs would come through the 2022 budget. The $250,000is designed to respond to immediate needs.
"Our focus here will be on not-for-profit organizations that bolster the local economy, community wellnessand pandemic recovery," Woodford said.
The ARPA expenditures, particularly those in 2022, wouldrequire the development of application processes, performance documentation and compliance reporting.
Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com.Follow him on Twitter at@DukeBehnke.
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) COVID is here to stay.
Thats the unsettling word from the chief health official in Ingham County.
While the rest of the nation is seeing a definite decline in COVID cases and hospitalizations, Michigan is an outlier with the average daily cases up. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is recording over 3,000 new cases every day and 83% of hospital beds are filled with COVID-19 patients, over 90% of whom have not been vaccinated. Fortunately, the death rate has flatlined at 2% for over half a year.
When the governor announced the first two COVID-19 cases in the state in March 2020, there was the expectation that eventually the virus would run out of gas and disappear. Now, 79% of citizens believe it is here to stay.
The chief medical officer in Ingham County says they are right.
COVID is going to become what we call endemic, Health Officer Linda Vail said. Were going to learn to live with COVID, but at what level are we going to live with?
The severity of COVID long-term will depend on shots in arms, and with 20% of the state refusing to get the shots, that is not good news.
If we get people vaccinated with enough shots, it will be a kind of seasonal thing and come and go and it will be around like like other viruses like H1N1; It wont be devastating, said Vail.
File photo
From replenishing New Jerseys drained unemployment account to funding hazard pay for frontline workers, theres been no shortage of ideas for how the state should use its remaining federal COVID-19 relief dollars.
So far, about a third of the more than $6 billion in aid New Jersey has received through the American Rescue Plan Act has been allocated by Gov. Phil Murphy and lawmakers for specific purposes, including rental assistance and financial aid for child care providers.
Murphy a first-term Democrat facing reelection next month has been holding a series of virtual events to collect input from various groups and individuals for how to use the balance of the federal pandemic aid.
Many have called on the governor to show more urgency and address the major issues exposed by the health crisis, such as New Jerseys persistently high rate of unemployment.
But Murphy said last week that his administrations primary goal is to ensure the remaining federal dollars are used to responsibly and carefully invest in the state.
By law, New Jersey has until the end of 2024 to obligate the balance of its federal aid, and even longer to spend it. And federal officials have made it clear they want the COVID-19 relief to sustain a long-term recovery from the still-ongoing pandemic.
In addition to funding direct stimulus payments to individuals and extending enhanced unemployment benefits, the American Rescue Plan Act also set aside $195 billion to fund the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund.
New Jersey received its share of the state recovery funding a sum of $6.24 billion on May 19, according to the state Department of Treasury.
The relief funding is supposed to support the public health response to the pandemic and to lay the groundwork for a strong and equitable recovery from the economic downturn that was triggered by the health crisis, according to a fact sheet from the U.S. Department of Treasury.
Murphy and state lawmakers agreed in late June to set aside about $2.4 billion of its share of the state recovery dollars for specific purposes. They earmarked $500 million for rental assistance and another $250 million to help those whove fallen behind on their utility bills during the pandemic.
Another $450 million is being made available to so-called Level I trauma centers in New Jersey and a $100 million child care revitalization fund has also been established using the federal dollars. The state will also spend $600 million over the next three years to fund additional special-education services using the federal relief money, according to Murphy and lawmakers.
With the deadline for spending all of the federal dollars still years away, Murphy and legislators agreed to some ground rules earlier this year for determining how the remaining funds can be allocated. And unlike prior tranches of federal aid, the agreement gives the Legislatures bipartisan and bicameral Joint Budget Oversight Committee a direct role.
Under the agreement, Murphys administration can spend up to $200 million of the unallocated portion of the federal relief on specific purposes without the committees approval, as long as no single expenditure totals more than $10 million.
More than 2,000 businesses have already contacted the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development to show their interest in participating in the program, Murphy said last week.
I look forward to seeing Return and Earn help both our small businesses and workers move forward, he said.
But many Republicans and business groups want the governor to be more aggressive in addressing lingering economic challenges brought on by the pandemic. Theyve also faulted him for not intervening already to fully blunt a statutorily required payroll tax hike for businesses that went into effect earlier this month to ensure the states drained unemployment fund is replenished.
Instead, Murphy signed into law earlier this year a bipartisan bill that spread out the tax hike over three years.
Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers, who are in the minority in both houses of the Legislature, say they are also drafting legislation that would allocate $200 million in federal funding to address computer-technology areas of critical need that were identified in a recent report from the states chief technology officer.
The allocation would be used to update Department of Labor and Workforce Development computer systems that faltered during the pandemic as the state was flooded with record-setting claims for jobless benefits, according to the GOP lawmakers.
At some point soon, this work must be done, as the (report) has indicated, said Sen. Anthony M. Bucco (R-Morris). If we dont act now when federal dollars are available, New Jersey taxpayers will be stuck paying for it later.
Theyve included calls to better address New Jerseys dearth of affordable housing, rebuild aging drinking-water infrastructure and prop up the residents of communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
And earlier this year, a coalition of interest groups called For the Many sent a letter to Murphy and legislative leaders that urged them to use the federal funds to stabilize residents facing hardship and keep their children safe from the long-term effects of deep poverty.
The most straightforward way to boost household income of families who had been living paycheck to paycheck is to provide direct cash payments with no strings attached and regardless of immigration status, the letter said.
A recent story published by The Associated Press indicated many states and big cities that have qualified for federal pandemic assistance are still deciding how to allocate their shares of the relief funding.
Recognizing that the health crisis will likely have a lasting effect on states and cities, an official from President Joe Bidens administration told the AP that they were given a long time to spend the aid dollars specifically to ensure a durable and equitable recovery.
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, a recent surge in state-tax revenue and a major emergency borrowing issue gave the state enough of its own funding earlier this year to balance the budget while also addressing some long-standing fiscal problems, like the grossly underfunded public-worker pension system.
With the states revenue outlook less certain coming out of the pandemic, holding back some of New Jerseys federal aid could in many ways backstop a state surplus account that right now measures roughly 5% of the more than $46 billion in total budgeted spending for the current fiscal year.
Policymakers from both parties are also likely hoping to prevent a rerun of what happened in New Jersey in the wake of the 2007-2009 Great Recession. The states federal stimulus aid was used in just one fiscal year, but budget gaps persisted well into subsequent years.
The Murphy administration has established a website that is keeping a running tally of how much COVID-19 aid New Jersey has received from the federal government. The website also details how those dollars so far have been spent or allocated.
The administration has also been collecting written comments from the general public on using the remaining American Rescue Plan Act funding. They can be sent to outreach@nj.gov.
Howard University Homecoming closed to alumni due to COVID-19 pandemic
Howard Universitys Homecoming festivities will be closed to alumni this year due to COVID-19 concerns.
WASHINGTON - Howard University's Homecoming festivities will be closed to alumni this year due to COVID-19 concerns.
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The University says in-person events will be closed to alumni unless specified. This year's Homecoming is called "Remember the Times" and will feature student-centered events, officials say, with limited in-person capacity.
The University will also livestream several events and will host special alumni events virtually.
"Howard is calling on students, alumni, faculty and staff to remember their first Homecoming experience, their first Homecoming football game and fond University experiences," said Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick in a statement. "Homecoming is an ideal opportunity to recommit ourselves to navigating the current social landscape and building toward Howard's future."
While this year's festivities will not feature large-scale events, students will be able to attend the Bison Madness pep rally, the Fashion Show, Greek Life Step Show, a modified Homecoming Concert, the annual Lavender (LGBTQ+) Reception, and Homecoming Day of Service events.
Individuals will be required to download the Bison SAFE app and complete the daily COVID-19 self-assessment prior to entering any Homecoming events held in-person.
Looking back to April 2020, I remember writing a column speculating on when the Covid-19 pandemic would end. At that time, most experts with whom I spoke anticipated an end to the virus in months.
And, of course, there was President Donald Thump ignorantly assuring us we would soon be hunting for colored eggs and eating chocolate rabbits because Covid-19 would vanish by Easter.
Cut to Gov. David Ige in his news conference Friday saying Covid-19 is going to with us a long time, maybe forever.
He said, We will have to live with Covid for the near term and for years and years to come.
The governor was explaining to news reporters why some pandemic restrictions would remain in place while he was relaxing others.
Epidemiologists expectation is that the current Covid-19 pandemic will eventually transform into an endemic phase, meaning it becomes a manageable disease no longer a deadly scourge with potential to overwhelm hospital systems and rack up huge body counts.
Medical experts say the move from a pandemic Covid to an endemic Covid will happen at different places at different times, depending on the availability of vaccines.
The message remains the same: the key to controlling Covid is widespread vaccination.
Dr. Scott Miscovich, in an interview, said it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when Covid could become a manageable endemic disease in Hawaii, but he said if vaccination rates rise to more than 90% with children getting vaccinated and wider acceptance of booster shots than he currently sees it might be possible by next summer.
But Miscovich says that forecast could change if Covid-19 evolves into a worse strain or transforms into an entirely new virus, requiring researchers to develop another vaccine.
The problem with setting a metric to signal the end of Covid danger is the virus is a constantly moving target and vaccination rates in many parts of the world continue to remain low.
He is confident Hawaii eventually will be able to move to an endemic phase because of the general willingness here to get vaccinated.
Miscovich is a national expert on Covid-19. His firm, Premier Medical Group Hawaii, has administered 5.5 million Covid tests in 21 states. He was the Covid-testing director for the U.S. teams in the Olympics.
Despite his optimistic view, Miscovich forecasts there will be yet another surge of Covid-19 coming from January to April, sparked after the Christmas holiday season in areas where vaccination rates continue to remain low, such as Wahiawa, the Waianae Coast and the southern part of Hawaii island.
In the same news conference Friday when the governor announced an easing of certain restrictions, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi also spoke of Covid as remaining here for a long time.
Blangiardi said, Covid is not going to go away. It is in our lives. It is here to stay.
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that most of the people it surveyed 79% also share the view that Covid will become a permanent part of our lives.
The survey respondents said they expect people in the U.S. will learn to live with Covid-19 like a seasonal flu, controlling it with annual vaccinations and medical treatments, but that some people still will get very sick and die each year.
About 15% of respondents said they were angry thinking about that outcome.
Only 14% in the Kaiser survey said they thought the coronavirus could be eliminated like polio.
Epidemiologist DeWolfe Miller said he expects Covid to continue circulating in the United States forever, but that eventually it will become a manageable threat with fewer people getting seriously ill and far fewer dying.
Miller is a professor emeritus at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii.
He quotes the wording his friend, the physician and epidemiologist Dr. Larry Brilliant, used for a title in a recent co-authored article in Foreign Affairs, The Forever Virus.
Miller said one reason Covid-19 cannot be eradicated is that it is animal borne. Brilliant writes it is already growing in more than a dozen animal species, including monkeys, cats and deer. Thats not to say the virus will be jumping automatically from the animals to humans, but to emphasize that certain animals are holding reservoirs of the virus that causes Covid-19.
We can talk about bringing it under control but nobody is talking about eradicating it, Miller said.
Miller said the key problem still is too many people in Hawaii and in the rest of the world remain unvaccinated but he anticipates a time when there is more immunity from vaccinations and from Covid exposure; then it will become routine for people to receive a Covid vaccine dose in the same injection with their annual flu shot. And if anyone gets sick, most infections will not be severe.
It will be no drama, just like flu shots already are in our lives today. That is about as good as it will get, he said.
I like the way epidemiologist Brilliant puts it: Rather than die out, the virus will likely ping-pong back and forth across the globe for years to come.
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COLUMBUS (WCMH) With flu season here and the winter months approaching, doctors want to make sure people are staying healthy. One of those ways is by distinguishing a patients symptoms.
Is it COVID-19, the flu, or is it respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)?
Dr. Joseph Gastaldo at OhioHealth said one thing to note is that with COVID-19, patients often suffer a loss of taste and smell. While not everyone experiences that symptom, it is the most telltale sign of coronavirus infection.
A symptom to watch with the flu is how your body is responding or reacting and for how long those symptoms are present.
Its essentially feeling like you got hit with a truck, Gastaldo said. You can have a high fever with the flu, and you can develop viral pneumonia with influenza.
The goal this time around is to keep hospital admissions low and keep as many as possible healthy.
Things people can do to help stay healthy are wearing a mask, socially distance, and get vaccinated.
Gastaldo reminds people that last year when mask mandates were in place, there was a minimum of reported flu and RSV cases, which he said shows those health measures are effective.
We all need to be cognizant of those who are not vaccinated, he says.
Even then, Gastaldo wants others to know that regardless of their vaccination status, its important to continue practicing these health measures.
Until we get to lower levels of community transmission, mask-wearing should be done by everybody regardless of their vaccination status, he said.
Though hes unsure just how many flu cases will be diagnosed this year, Gastaldo knows theyre coming. An increase in RSV cases is an example of those infections coming back.
RSV usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms that most people recover from after a week or two. However, it can cause severe symptoms for infants and older adults.
If youre still feeling unsure if youve been exposed to COVID-19, Gastaldo recommends calling your primary care physician.
According to ESPNs Field Yates, the Cincinnati Bengals have placed offensive lineman Jackson Carman and running back Samaje Perine on the reserve/COVID-19 list after playing against the Green Bay Packers just one day ago. Carman, who started at right guard, played all 67 offensive snaps for the Bengals on Sunday while Perine played 41.
Theres no way to note how many Packers players might have been in contact with those two players without having access to the league-level tracking data, but the play-by-play of the Week 5 matchup does tell us which players tackled Perine, an imperfect measure of contact. Below are all the players who were credited with a tackle of Perine yesterday:
As long as a player is vaccinated and tests negative, the NFL states that the player does not have to isolate after close contact, as long as they do not show symptoms of COVID-19. Unvaccinated players, though, have to play by a different set of rules as the league states that unvaccinated players must isolate for five days after a high-risk close contact, even if they initially test negative for COVID-19 and dont display symptoms. If unvaccinated close contact players test negative for five days in a row, they are eligible to return to the team.
If an unvaccinated player tests positive for COVID-19, it will take them at least 10 days to return to the team. Vaccinated players who test positive for COVID-19 can return to the team after two negative tests that are at least 24 hours apart.
Hopefully, the Packers werent exposed to COVID-19 on the field on Sunday and all of the defenders who were in close contact with both Carman and Perine are healthy.
INDIANAPOLIS Data from the Indiana Department of Health shows a mostly steady decline in first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccinations.
Data from the Indiana Department of Health shows during the delta surge, first- and second-dose vaccinations peaked at a 7-day average of more than 12,000 per day in late August.
As of Friday, that number has dropped by half to a 7-day average of 6,080 first- and second-dose vaccinations a day.
Several Indiana vaccine providers say theyve seen the decline firsthand.
We are getting some that are coming in for their first and second dose, but the majority are the boosters, said Tracy Anderson, COVID-19 vaccine clinics manager for Community Health Network. I would say 80% at least are booster.
Anderson said her team is focused on reaching more students by running vaccine clinics at schools.
We wanted to make sure that population had the opportunity to get vaccinated, and its not always easy for those parents to get to clinics, she said.
Other providers are also working to make the vaccine available in more places.
I just got off a call with community outreach getting into some of our high-risk community settings and offering vaccines there, said Mary Kay Foster, special pathogens program manager for IU Health.
Foster said she believes health care providers need to educate patients about the potential consequences of COVID if theyre not vaccinated.
What that hospital bill is going to be like, she said. I dont think people realize how expensive the care for COVID truly is.
Data from the state health department shows 56.4% of eligible Hoosiers are fully vaccinated.
On Friday, Gov. Eric Holcomb acknowledged it will take time to convince some Hoosiers to get the shot.
Well continue to lean into making sure that those resources are readily accessible, easy to access, and we try to be as persuasive as we can, Holcomb said.
Health officials urge people who have questions about the vaccine to speak with their doctor.
The Indiana Department of Health has not posted data on booster shots to the vaccine dashboard yet, but officials hope to get make that information available soon, according to a spokesperson.
The COVID-19 pandemic, now in its 19th month, has meant different things to different people. For some, its meant stress over new school and work regimes, or anxiety over the prospect of catching COVID-19 and dealing with the aftereffects of an infection. But for others, its created space and freedom to pursue new passions or make decisions that had been put off.
Our upended lives for better or for worse also likely influenced our perception of time.
In June 2020, we were part of a team of researchers who presented initial evidence that an individuals sense of time during the pandemic was closely related to their emotions.
People who reported feeling high levels of stress and nervousness in March and April 2020 also tended to feel that time was passing more slowly, but people who reported feeling high levels of happiness felt that time was passing more quickly. (Yes, believe it or not, there was a good chunk of people who enjoyed their time spent in lockdown.)
It turns out that even during a pandemic, time flies when youre having fun.
With a years worth of data, we were able to see how peoples views on the progress of the pandemic were related to their sense of time, their emotional states and whether they behaved in ways intended to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Time is a funny thing. On the one hand, its incredibly precise and consistent an objective measure. Each day on Earth lasts exactly 23.934 hours, the length of time it takes the Earth to rotate once along its axis.
On the other hand, how we feel or perceive time passing is neither consistent nor precise. Many people will probably agree that 23.934 hours seem to pass much faster on a Saturday than on a Monday.
Dr. Gable has spent the past decade exploring how two highly related concepts emotion and motivation play a large role.
Motivation is a part of emotion and can either be described as approach motivation or avoidance motivation. The former is characterized by the tendency to engage with others or pursue goals when we experience positive emotions, such as excitement and joy. The latter refers to the tendency to pull away from others when we experience negative emotions, such as sadness or fear.
Approach motivation is associated with time passing more rapidly, which ultimately results in spending more time engaged with something that makes us feel good.
Avoidance motivation is associated with time passing more slowly, which motivates us to escape from potentially harmful situations.
Under normal circumstances, these relationships help us effectively pursue our goals and maintain our safety. Consider how long youll spend absorbed in a good book and how quickly you try to escape from a threatening situation.
But what happens in extreme circumstances? Thanks to a grant from the National Science Foundation, we were able to investigate for the first year of the pandemic how peoples motivations and emotions altered their sense of time.
In April 2020, Dr. Gable and his team asked 1,000 Americans about their sense of time and emotional experiences over the previous month.
Almost 50% of these individuals reported that time seemed to be dragging by, which was strongly related to higher levels of stress and nervousness. These respondents also reported practicing social distancing more often. Roughly 25% of participants said time seemed to be flying by, which was associated with feeling happy and glad. The remaining 25% of participants felt no change in their sense of time.
A month later, we contacted the same people and asked the same questions. About 10% of those who had previously reported time passing slowly said it was moving more quickly. And more of them said they felt relaxed and calm.
With a full years worth of data, we were able to analyze the results across 12 months of the pandemic. (The analysis is still under peer review.) We found that individuals who reported being relaxed, happy and confident felt that time was passing more quickly.
In contrast, participants who reported strong feelings of fear, anxiety or anger or who felt that their lives were out of control perceived time passing slowly. This sensation of time moving sluggishly was also associated with greater worry about personally getting COVID-19, anxiety about whether a family member would become infected and concern about how the virus would affect personal finances.
We also found an interesting pattern of results related to participants beliefs about the dangers of COVID-19 and the ability to address the spread of the virus. Specifically, participants who felt the government could effectively control the pandemic and that there were effective treatments for COVID-19 felt time was passing more quickly. Participants who felt there was an insufficient amount of medical equipment to treat COVID-19 and felt the virus was highly lethal reported time passing more slowly.
Then theres the way time perception was connected to behavior.
Over the course of the pandemic, we found that when people were feeling time was moving by more quickly, they were more likely to wear a mask. Meanwhile, when people perceived time passing more slowly, they tended to avoid large gatherings.
Both limit the spread of the virus. So what might explain the likelihood of one behavior over the other?
Individuals wearing a mask are engaging in more approach-motivated behavior, as wearing a mask doesnt protect the wearer as much as it protects those in their vicinity. The more positive people felt, the more likely they were to wear a mask to protect others around them.
Those who avoid large gatherings are engaging in more self-protective, or avoidance-motivated behavior. It prevents you from getting the virus from other people, with fear and avoidance influencing the behavior.
In other words, if you see a light at the end of the tunnel through treatments and faith in the governments responses youre more likely to have an upbeat attitude and be more motivated to engage in behaviors that help others. If you feel utterly hopeless or sense foreboding doom, time creeps by. This seems to motivate the impulse to hunker down and protect yourself.
As our understanding and awareness of COVID-19 variants increases, so does our understanding of ourselves and how we behave. These findings may highlight the importance of maintaining good habits and finding hobbies that foster positive emotions. That way you wont be trapped in a cycle of despair, which is only compounded by the sense that time is creeping by.
Philip Gable, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Delaware and Chris Wendel, PhD Student in Psychology, University of Alabama
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
