COVID anxiety rising amid surging delta
Poll: Most adults want vaccinations to be mandated
Anxiety in the United States over COVID -19 is at its highest level since winter, a new poll shows, as the delta variant rages, more states and school districts adopt mask and vaccination requirements and the nation’s hospitals once again fill to capacity.
The poll from The Associated PRESS-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also finds that majorities of American adults want vaccination mandates for those attending movies, sports, concerts and other crowded events; those traveling by airplane; and workers in hospitals, restaurants, stores and government offices.
The poll shows that 41 percent are “extremely” or “very” worried about themselves or their family becoming infected with the virus. That is up from 21 percent in June, and about the same as in January, during the country’s last major surge, when 43 percent were extremely or very worried.
“I wouldn’t have said this a couple of years ago, but I’m not as confident as I was in America’s ability to take care of itself,” said David Bowers, 42, a business analyst in the Phoenix suburb of Peoria.
Bowers, a Democrat, and his wife, a public school teacher, got vaccinated early. But they fret once again about their daughters, ages 7 and 9, attending school in a state whose Republican governor, Doug Ducey, signed a law to block school districts from mandating masks, let alone vaccines.
A brief summer respite from COVID -19 fatigue included a family trip to New York. “COVID was pretty much out of mind,“Bowers said. “Now it feels like we’re going backward.”
Close to 6 in 10 Americans say they favor requiring people to be fully vaccinated against COVID -19 to travel on an airplane or attend crowded public events. Only a quarter of Americans oppose such measures.
Roughly 6 in 10 also support vaccine mandates for hospital or other health care workers, along with government employees, members of the military and workers who interact with the public, such as in restaurants and stores. Support is slightly lower for requiring vaccinations to go out to a bar or restaurant, though more are in favor than opposed, 51 percent to 28 percent.
Nearly 200 million people, or 60 percent of the U.S. population, had received at least one vaccine dose as of Thursday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Just over half of the population was fully vaccinated.
Florida, Arkansas, Oregon, Hawaii, Louisiana and Mississippi have set records for COVID -19 hospitalizations in recent weeks, and the surge in the delta variant, combined with low vaccination rates, has produced a scramble to find beds for patients.
The poll suggests that despite increasing cases and greater concern about the virus, Americans have not stepped up their own precautionary behavior since June.
Confidence in vaccines to withstand virus variants has not waned, either, as U.S. health officials this week announced plans to dispense booster shots to all Americans to shore up their protection. The doses could begin next month.
Carla Jones, 37, of Lafayette, La., is a paraplegic with immunity problems and uses a wheelchair after she was severely injured in a car accident. Because of her health, she has been told by her doctor she cannot get the vaccine. She gets anxious visiting the doctor or when her grandchildren visit.
“I see someone next to me at the doctor’s without a mask, it makes my heart rapidly beat faster,” she said.
Jones, a Democrat, strongly favors vaccination and mask mandates, and not just for herself. “For the good of all,” she said.
“I don’t have the shot, but I definitely wouldn’t want to pass it on to anyone else.”
The poll shows that 55 percent support requiring Americans to wear masks around other people outside their homes, while 62 percent support mask mandates specifically for workers who interact with the public, such as at restaurants and stores.
Eighty-five percent of Democrats and 39 percent of Republicans are in favor of mask mandates for public-facing workers.