Is the COVID-19 pandemic over? It is for 40% of Americans who took part in a new survey.
According to the poll of 1,580 U.S. adults for the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, 4 in 10 respondents say they’ve returned to their “normal, pre-Covid-19 life” after the lockdowns and restrictions of the last two years.
This number is a 16% jump from when the same question was asked in January.
What’s more, 54% of those polled say they rarely wear a mask indoors in public — more than double the number of people who said that seven months ago.
That said, the poll also revealed that 54% of those polled personally know at least one person who died from the respiratory illness, and 31% say they know someone who is suffering from the side effects of long COVID.
What’s more, despite more than a year of assurances that the vaccines would prevent a person from becoming infected, most of those polled know someone who has tested positive after being fully vaxxed and boosted.
Seventy-eight percent of those polled said they’re fully vaxxed. Just 35% say they’ve had two boosters.
“After more than two years of experience with Covid-19 and its effects, the public is largely aware of the nature and risks of infection,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, in a release.
“A consistent percentage does not believe a pre-Covid normal will ever be restored. But a growing number have returned to their pre-Covid life. One can only hope that those in each group have accurately calculated the risks and benefits that their decision entails.”
Survey questions, methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.