Thursday 19 May 2022 03:16 PM Covid US: 30% say pandemic is OVER as cases rise but number of deaths falls trends now
Americans are starting to feel like the COVID-19 pandemic is over, and a majority have returned to pre-pandemic activities like dining out, visiting friends and family in person and going shopping - even as daily case figures rise in many parts of the country.
An Axios-Ipsos poll published Wednesday found that 30 percent of Americans believe the COVID-19 pandemic is now over, with nearly 60 percent of Republicans in particular considering the virus's dominance over the world to be a relic of the past.
Even many of those that do consider the pandemic to be ongoing are still returning to normal life, with more than 60 percent of survey respondents saying they had returned to regular, in person, activities that were largely halted when the virus broke out across the world in early 2020.
The data is revealed as Covid cases begin to increase once again after sharp decreases coming off of the mid-January peak of the Omicron variant. Daily cases have jumped 20 percent over the past week to 95,719 per day - the highest point since early February.
Despite the rising cases, deaths have remained low - partly because of America's high vaccine coverage and the more mild nature of the Omicron variant when compared to previous forms of the virus. The nation is averaging 340 deaths per day, a 35 percent drop over the last seven days.
Researchers surveyed 982 participants between May 13 and 16 for the survey, which has been conducted frequently since the pandemic first emerged in March 2020.
When asked if they believed the COVID-19 pandemic was over, ten percent of respondents said they 'strongly agreed', and 20 percent reported that they 'somewhat agreed'.
A majority of Americans still think the situation is continuing, with 39 percent of respondents saying they 'strongly disagreed' with the statement that the pandemic was over, the largest share of respondents.
Still, though, that 30 percent of Americans now think that the situation has been resolved represents a major shift in the dominance the virus has in many people's lives - with some feeling so comfortable at the moment that they believe the whole situation is over.
Participants were also asked if they had taken part in some regular activities that may have been halted during the early stages of the virus. When asked if they had gone out to eat over the past week, 65 percent of Americans responded that they had.
Nearly 70 percent of Americans said they had visiting a friend or a relative over the past week as well. Just over 60 percent said they went to a non-grocery retail store in person over the last seven days.
This shows that many Americans who still believe the pandemic is active are even returning to somewhat normal life, and taking part in
