Editor's note: Haider Rifaat is a writer for South China Morning Post, Arabian Moda magazine, Good Times magazine and OK! Pakistan. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

2020 couldn't have been any worse than this. We had anticipated going into 2021 that COVID-19 would be off our backs, and the world would return to normalcy. All in vain, regardless.

Four months from now, we will be a year into this pandemic that has completely changed the course of our lives. The worldwide tally stands at more than 50 million cases in 190 countries, with an estimated 1.2 million deaths. The United States has surpassed a whopping 10 million mark, and it only makes us question what the future holds for us all.

What is even more important to factor in here is that a pandemic like COVID-19 is not something we can ever consider as "the new normal." It can never be a new normal for us when we have had enough of the pandemic and the monotonous guidelines that come with it – a term we now call "pandemic fatigue." People are tired of working from home, purchasing their weekly groceries with bottles of sanitizers and face masks, and adhering to the monotony of social distancing.

We have hit rock bottom, and it appears to be getting worse by the day, especially for Americans. Sources cite that 84 percent of Americans reported in earlier months that they were avoiding small gatherings. The percentage has since decreased significantly. A large segment of the U.S. population is the victim of pandemic fatigue, and this is indicative of rising COVID-19 cases in the months to come. We all hope to evolve from COVID-19 and return to our usual work routine without worrying about precautions, but the pandemic is far from over.

We have taken a transitory breather to relax and not let any standard operating procedures (SOPs) dictate what we should do with our lives. Well, consider that a failing scenario that will only backfire. Cases will surge, months of efforts to curtail COVID-19 will go to waste, and families will suffer more than ever. Although pandemic fatigue maybe normal for any of us to experience, embracing it fully during a critical stage of a pandemic will make matters worse.

Even compassion fatigue has consumed us all to the point that we no longer wish to empathize with others as much as we would like. This holds true for all the medical health professionals who have been working incessantly since the beginning of this year to help patients recover.

With winter already upon us, it is likely that people will prefer being indoors. It is because of this proximity during winter that COVID-19 contractions can increase substantially. Couple this with pandemic and compassion fatigue, infections will hit the roof. No government-imposed SOPs would really make a difference. It is important for us to also not to downplay pandemic fatigue, considering how it may be causing coronavirus cases to resurface.

Though COVID-19 fatigue has gotten the worst of us, we need to constantly remind ourselves that we share a greater responsibility. As responsible citizens, we must snap back into reality, get our houses in order and stick with the SOPs we have been following since the beginning of this year. Think about the kids, the elderly, and those marred with chronic illnesses. We don't want to lose more people than we already have.

We should realize that if we have made it this far in the war against coronavirus, we must continue to strive and eradicate this contagion from our lives completely. The upcoming months will be harder for us to pull through, so let's make things easier for ourselves and those around us through caution and perseverance.

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