Diary of a (secondline) clinicianThe human psyche is a contrary thing, wanting one thing when it has another, valuing that which it can't have higher than that which is available in abundance. "Familiarity breeds contempt". "Absence makes the heart grow fonder". Two sides of the same coin that we are forever turning over in our minds. Some may scoff at this, dismissing it as stupidity. But it is based on a well-established heuristic. That which is scarce is more likely to hold greater value and thus worth acquiring. You could certainly pick a worse survival strategy. "Two sides of the same coin that we are forever turning over in our minds." So it is we find ourselves in an entirely predictable place. Public health physicians and health promotion organisations shout till they're blue in the face about the value of exercise but as soon as it becomes one of only 4 reasons for which one can leave their house (at least in the state of Victoria), suddenly its popularity skyrockets. I've never seen the Princes Park or the Maribyrnong River tracks more full then on weekends during COVID-19. Sure this is somewhat tongue-in-cheek and obviously has more to do with being able to get out of the house than any intrinsic appeal of exercise. But the point stands, restrict leaving the house and people will do anything to enjoy it, even if means having to exercise to avoid a $1,600 fine. So it shouldn't have really come as any surprise that people were protesting on the steps of State Parliament against the restrictions on freedoms imposed by COVID-19 physical distancing orders. In many ways it was the truest embodiment of the "prevention paradox", where an effective preventative measure means people don't see the consequences of whatever has been prevented and cease to see the value of the preventative measures themselves. This appears to be partly driving the reductions in vaccine uptake seen across the developed world. It has often been said that the greatest compliment that can be paid a public health physician is that they over-reacted. "I've never seen the Princes Park or the Maribyrnong River tracks more full then on weekends during COVID-19" When this existential threat is all said and done there will be those who rejoice then move on and those who lament that we have so soon forgotten the lesons we should have learned. Our society will change, how much for better or worse is as yet anyone's guess. But if we value our freedom any less once restrictions are lifted, it won't be public health physicians to blame.
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May 2020
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