Five years after COVID-19 prompted widespread shutdowns across the world, most Americans say that while that pandemic is over, a new deadly health crisis is brewing, according to a new poll.
The latest Gallup survey shows that views on the issue are largely unchanged from a year ago and remain split along party lines. Republicans were more likely than Democrats to say the pandemic is over — 79 percent to 43 percent, respectively — and less likely to be worried about another global pandemic — 66 percent to 22 percent.
Around 72 percent of respondents also say they’ve contracted COVID at some point in the last five years, according to the poll. Another 28 percent said they did not contract the virus.
Of those who reported having COVID, just 16 percent said they tested positive without having symptoms. Around 11 percent experienced long COVID symptoms while 2 percent were admitted to the hospital, the data shows.
Roughly one in five Americans say they are worried about catching the virus now, but few say they wear masks anymore. Nearly half of the poll’s respondents said they have received a COVID-19 vaccine in the past six months or plan to get a booster shot soon.
Fewer than half, 47 percent, said their lives have returned to a pre-pandemic normal. About 40 percent said they don’t think their lives ever will while 13 percent said the opposite, the survey found.
A majority of adults in the U.S., 58 percent, are worried about another global pandemic. Of that number, 16 percent are “very worried,” and 42 percent are “somewhat” worried. Another 26 percent say they are “not too worried,” while 15 percent said they were “not worried at all,” according to the poll.
The deaths of more than 1.2 million Americans have been attributed to COVID-19 since January 2020, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Gallup’s findings were based on self-administered web surveys conducted from Feb. 18-26 among 5,876 people. The margin of error is 2 percentage points.
