The COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged society for the past two years, but it now seems it is over. According to most Americans, with the lifting of testing requirements and mask mandates, people have returned to pre-pandemic routines, which means the pandemic is over.
Americans believe the pandemic is over.
A new poll has established that over 50% of Americans have stopped things like wearing masks even though they are exposing themselves to health risks. Four in ten people state that normalcy has returned, with another 42% predicting it will take a year before normalcy returns. Surprisingly, 23% of Americans believe the virus will not disappear and will stay forever.
Annenberg Public Policy Centre director Kathleen Hall Jamieson said that the public is aware of the risks and nature of infection after almost two years of the pandemic. Yet, surprisingly most Americans don’t think that the world will ever return to pre-pandemic normal despite most of them resuming everyday life.
Vaccine access is why 41% of Americans have returned to everyday life. Close to 78% of the respondents indicated they had received complete vaccination against the virus, up from 74% reported in November 2021. Out of the Americans that have received the required vaccine doses, some 77% claim they had also received a booster shot.
Awareness about the virus has led to everyday life.
There have been several waves of COVID in the US, with over 50% of Americans claiming they had the virus or were confident of having it. Besides vaccines, studies indicate that infected individuals can develop antibodies that protect against potential infections in the future.
Interestingly the return to everyday life results from more people knowing about the virus and the availability of vaccines. Also, the approval of Paxlovid for mild to moderate infection among high-risk people at risk of hospitalization or death has helped ease concerns.
It is vital to note that with the emergence of new strains of COVID-19 has gone up, and people feel the vaccines don’t protect against breakthrough infections.
