Americans' Worry About Catching COVID-19 Drops to Record Low

[DonViejo]

Source: Gallup

APRIL 6, 2021

BY RJ REINHART

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

35% of Americans are worried about catching COVID-19, down from 49%

77% say the COVID-19 situation in the U.S. is improving, up from 60%

64% report at least a fair amount of disruption to their lives, down from 70%

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- At the same time Americans' satisfaction with the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine has surged, their concerns about getting the virus and about the availability of coronavirus tests and hospital services/treatment have fallen to record lows.

Thirty-five percent of U.S. adults now say they are very or somewhat worried about contracting COVID-19, the lowest point in Gallup's trend since April 2020. Twenty-two percent of Americans are very or moderately worried about access to hospital services/treatment, and 14% are just as worried about access to COVID-19 tests.

These data come from Gallup's latest COVID-19 probability-based web panel survey, conducted March 15-21 as vaccination rates continued to climb across the country. The current 35% worried about contracting COVID-19 is down 14 percentage points from February, and well off the record-high 59% of Americans who voiced concerns about catching the disease last summer. That high came as the number of COVID-19 cases surged following the lifting of restrictions on businesses in June.

Worry about contracting COVID-19 is down among almost all key segments of society since February, especially among older adults. The decline among older Americans, and the decline more generally, may be tied to the increase in the percentage of Americans who are fully vaccinated. That group has one of the lowest levels of worry among all major subgroups, with 21% (down from 36%) expressing concerns about getting COVID-19.

Read more: https://news.gallup.com/poll/344183/americans-worry-catching-covid-drops-record-low.aspx

[dalton99a]

1. Kick

[brewens]

2. I am less worried, as I should be after my first vaccine, but I'm still hiding out. I anticipate

doing so well after my second Pfizer shot. When I see new cases diving because of the vaccines, I may fell comfortable hitting some summer outdoor events. I'm hoping to be in my favorite sports bar when we release the Kraken! The new Seattle NHL teams set to begin play next fall.

[LisaM]

8. Angry Beaver?

I'm hoping to get there myself.

[IronLionZion]

3. Lots of American believed that a year ago

because they were told it will all be over by April or Easter, warm weather will kill off the virus, it's just like the flu, etc. It turned out to be way too soon. At least this time a lot of people are getting vaccinated and should have some protection against some variants and community spread.

[NurseJackie]

4. Of those who are no longer worried...

... how many will become infected because their lack-of-worry lead to lack-of-taking-precautions. How many of those will start behaving like spring-breakers in Miami?

[Politicub]

5. Phizer jab #2 is next week. I will continue my same routine when I go out, with

masking, social distancing and using hand sanitizer.

The difference is I will visit people and let unmasked friends and family inside of my home that have been vaccinated.

As of now, the people I care about most have either been vaccinated or are in line.

I would love to go to a movie, but that's a few months out for me.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Right when we might be on the cusp of a full blown 4th wave

I am so far "half" vaccinated and have one sis/BIL now fully vaccinated as of yesterday, and another sis/BIL who are "half" vaccinated as of last week.

The ones who are the main "super spreaders" are also the age groups at the end of the vaccination priority list.

[progree]

7. 7 day moving averages of daily new cases and hospitalizations and deaths

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

U.S. Daily new cases, 7 day moving average (7dma):
3/22: 54,052 (lowest point since fall)
3/30: 66,066
4/05: 64,851 (latest)

The latest is up 20.0% from the 3/22 low point but down 1.8% from 3/30, so there's hope we're done going up and even starting to go down on new cases. How much this may have been affected by Easter holiday weekend reporting issues is to be seen.

Regardless, these are all way down from the Jan 8 peak of 259,616 daily new cases (7dma), the latest is down 75.0% from that peak.

U.S. Covid-19 patients in hospitals (7 day moving averages)
3/27 39,500 (lowest point since fall)
4/04: 40,938 (latest)
Up 3.6% from the low point.
But down 70.3% from the 137,801 January 10 peak.

New reported deaths by day (7 day moving averages)
1/12: 3352 (all time peak)
4/05: 794 (latest)
Down 76.3%

Unlike the daily new cases and hospitalizations, there have been no recent upturns in deaths since mid-January except for a little up and back down in late February. It's been all downhill (in a good way) since then.