A new Morning Consult poll finds that Americans aren't growing more concerned about the new variant or changing their lifestyles, despite rising Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations that leave them most at risk.
People wait in line for a test.
UCG/Universal Images Group.
The Morning Consult poll found that the number of people who were concerned about omicron dropped from December 24 to December 30.
The concern levels went from 80% to 79% among the vaccine recipients, while concern went from 72% to 68% among all respondents.
The World Health Organization has cautioned more studies are needed before drawing conclusions about the variant's severity, but Morning Consult notes that evidence suggests the variant causes less severe disease than earlier strains.
The share of respondents who said they were very concerned about the outbreak in general declined slightly from 42% to 42%, but that is still up from 32% who were concerned in early December.
The percentage of people who think the virus poses a serious health risk to their community increased from 25% in early December to 29% from December 24 to 30.
Morning Consult polling found that Americans' comfort level with various activities remained the same despite the omicron surge. The share of people who like to eat indoors has gone down five points since December, but only one point since last week, while the share of people who like to go to the movies has stayed the same. Morning Consult found that the share of Americans who are willing to go to a party is now 42%, its lowest point since September, and that those who are comfortable going on a date have dropped by seven percentage points since December.
There was a majority of 73%. More than 25% of US adults are unvaccinated or only partially vaccineed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The key background.
The omicron variant has been linked to nearly all new Covid-19 cases in the US, with public health data showing cases have gone up by 25% over the past two weeks. The highly transmissible variant has led to major outbreaks in places like New York City, Washington, D.C., and Florida and has led to widespread staffing shortages, event cancellation and new Covid-19 measures. The surge in cases has led to a rise in Covid-19 hospitalizations in the US, with the Times reporting that hard-hit areas like New York and New Jersey have seen a rise in hospitalizations. Even as evidence shows that vaccines are less effective at preventing infections, the unvaccinated are at risk.
Views on the Pandemic is a return to normal.
The Omicron variant is now linked to almost all of the U.S. covid cases.
There are more than 100,000 hospitalized in the U.S.
The Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy has not changed over the past decade.
Americans are concerned about Omicron, but won't change their plans.
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