Gallup Poll: 70 Percent of Americans Say COVID Pandemic Not Over

More than 70 percent of Americans say the COVID-19 pandemic is not over, according to a new Gallup poll, with the Northeast, at 77 percent, more convinced than any region in the country despite weeks of low infection cases and ranking among the most vaccinated states.

Yet the poll, based on web surveys of 4,843 people nationwide ages 18 and older from June 14-20, revealed significant optimism amid declining cases, hospitalizations and deaths. And, with two-thirds of adults having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, a record-high 89 percent of Americans now say the situation is improving.

Despite that outlook, 40 percent of Americans say their lives will never get back to normal, perhaps because of areas of the country with low vaccination rates and the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant.

“The vaccine should protect people to some extent (against the Delta variant) but not to the extent that it should,” says Dr. Ulysses Wu, Hartford HealthCare’s System Director of Infection Disease and Chief Epidemiologist. “But the vaccine still fulfills its primary purpose, which is to reduce the amount of hospitalizations and deaths associated with the virus.”

Here are the results of three questions from the Gallup poll:

In your opinion, is the coronavirus pandemic over in the U.S., or not?

Yes vs. No.

To what extent is your own life being affected or disrupted by the coronavirus situation?

First set of numbers: April 19-25.

Second set of numbers: May 18-23.

Third set of numbers: June 14-20.

Do you think your life will ever get completely back to the “normal” that existed before the coronavirus pandemic?

Percentage (U.S. adults).