More than six in 10 Americans say the COVID-19 situation in the US is getting better, but two-thirds of Americans expect disruptions to schooling, travel, and public events at least through the rest of the year, according to a poll released on Monday.
While 63 percent say the pandemic outlook in the US is improving — an increase of 43 percentage points from January when the highly contagious Omicron variant was causing a spike in cases — 25 percent believe things aren’t changing much and 12 percent think the outbreak is getting worse, a Gallup poll found.
The highest rate of optimism was 89 percent in June 2021, when the number of people getting the vaccine was rising and coronavirus cases dipped.
But that same measurement plummeted to 15 percent in August due to the emergence of the Delta variant.
There has been a substantial increase among people who believe that COVID is now under control. Christopher SadowskiThe poll, conducted between Feb. 15 and 23, when many states began to relax mask and other coronavirus restrictions, shows that just 9 percent of Americans think the disruptions will last a few more weeks. Almost one-quarter (24 percent) think things will take a few more months to return to full normality; while 38 percent say disruptions will last through the end of 2022 — and 29 percent say they will continue into 2023 and beyond.
Roughly two years after businesses and schools began to shutter because of coronavirus, 34 percent of Americans say they are “very/somewhat worried” that they will get infected — down 20 percentage points from April 2020.
Only 6 percent say they are “very worried.”
The number has increased by nearly 20 percent since the spike in cases in January 2022 due to the Omicron variant. TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty ImagesWhen it comes to other aspects of the pandemic, the survey found that 55 percent are worried about new variants emerging, 50 percent are concerned about people who refuse to get the vaccine, and 31 percent are worried about the availability of hospital beds and medical supplies and treatment. The same percentage say they are very or somewhat worried about a lack of social distancing.
Just 19 percent worry about having enough COVID-19 tests.
The poll surveyed 2,849 adults, and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2 percentage points.
Only 6 percent of people surveyed say they are “very nervous” about returning to normal life. Mohamed Krit/NurPhoto/Shuttersto