More than six in 10 Americans are optimistic that the coronavirus pandemic will improve, but a sizable margin expects to see continued disruptions to schools and travel throughout the rest of the year, according to a poll released on Monday.
While 63% say the situation in the US involving the pandemic is getting better — an increase of 20 percentage points from January when the highly contagious Omicron variant was causing a spike in cases — 25% believe things won’t change much and 12% anticipate a turn for the worse, a Gallup poll found.
In January, 58 percent of those polled thought the coronavirus was getting worse.
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 percentage plummeted to 15% in August with the emergence of the Delta variant.
The poll, conducted between Feb. 15 and 23, when many states began to relax mask and other coronavirus restrictions, shows that 9% think the disruptions would continue a few more weeks; 24%, a few more months; and 38%, through the end of 2022.
Roughly two years after businesses and schools began to shutter because of coronavirus, 34% of Americans say they are “very/somewhat worried” that they will get infected — down 20 percentage points since April 2020.
Only 6% say they are “very worried.”
The survey found that 55% are worried about new variants emerging, 50% are concerned about people who refuse to get the vaccine, 31% are troubled that there will be enough hospital supplies and treatment, as do the same percentage about the lack of social distancing.
Just 19% worry about having enough tests.
The poll surveyed 2,849 adults, and has a plus/minus margin of error of 2 percentage points.
