August 30, 2023 – Only 7% of U.S. adults are “very concerned” about contracting COVID-19, based on a brand new survey.
That's down from the 11% of respondents who said they were very anxious concerning the virus in an identical poll in September 2022. Back then, 43% said they were no less than somewhat anxious. In this latest poll, conducted between August 17 and 21, 31% of respondents said they were no less than somewhat anxious. This is based on the poll by Yahoo News.
“I think most Americans have understood the message from the federal government and its partners about the end of the pandemic in the spring of 2023,” Judith O'Donnell, MD, an infectious disease specialist at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia, told the news agency. “In fact, most Americans have returned to living their lives as they did before 2020, even before the government's message was disseminated. Americans have put the COVID-19 pandemic behind them.”
The Yahoo poll was conducted by polling group YouGov and included responses from 1,665 nationally representative adults within the United States.
The recent poll also found that 9% of persons are closely following current COVID infection rates, and 33% said they’re following infection rates no less than somewhat closely.
COVID metrics have been steadily rising since June, after reaching their lowest levels because the pandemic began. About 15,000 individuals with severe cases of COVID-19 were newly hospitalized within the U.S. through the week ending August 19, concerning the same number as in June 2021, March 2022, and April 2023. The virus's impact appears to be heading right into a recent phase as schools resume classes and cold weather approaches. Recently, health officials have increased their communications about potential risks from recent variants because the virus evolves.
The next CDC An update on COVID data is anticipated on Thursday.