Poll: A growing number of Americans think the worst of the coronavirus is over, even as cases spike

[TomCADem]

Source: Vox

A growing number of Americans of both political parties believe the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is over, even as the number of daily new cases is rapidly increasing nationwide.

A new survey from the Pew Research Center found that 40 percent of Americans now believe the worst of Covid-19 is in the past, up from 26 percent in early April. That number includes the majority of Republicans, 61 percent of whom said the country has already suffered the worst of the pandemic.

Overall, the survey — taken June 16 to 22, featuring 4,708 American adults and a 1.8 percentage point margin of error — found a strikingly deep ideological divide between how Republicans and Democrats think about the continued threat of the virus.

Democrats were much more likely to say they’re worried they may get Covid-19 and need to be hospitalized; that they might spread the virus to other people; and that they’re uncomfortable going to salons, restaurants, sporting events, or social gatherings. For instance, the study found 65 percent of Republicans are now comfortable eating in a restaurant, compared to 28 percent of Democrats.

Read more: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/6/27/21305526/poll-40-percent-americans-think-worst-coronavirus-over-even-as-cases-spike

[elleng]

1. Because 'a growing number of Americans' think everyone lives in NYState?

[Grokenstein]

2. Wishful thinking vs Reality

Who will win? Or rather: Who will survive and what will be left of them?

[Drunken Irishman]

3. Poll is already outdated.

Let's see the results after the huge spike we saw last week. I bet those numbers shift.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. Yup. . . . nt

[progree]

14. Yup, looks like June 9-11 was the recent bottom of daily new cases, 21,300; June 27: 37,600

+77%, (7 day moving averages). So a poll June 16-22 would likely include a lot of people who weren't aware of the upturn or didn't think it was anything yet to worry about. And up to a point can be blamed on more testing. The bad headlines out of Florida and Texas came later.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

Deaths continue to decline. (New cases are more and more skewing younger people so death rate is going down. And lag the increase in cases by more than 2 weeks -- 2 weeks ago was around the bottom of new cases).

[mr_lebowski]

4. And this, my friends, sums up in a nutshell why Trump is agitating about mail-in voting ...

He and the RW industrial complex have been conditioning their people to 'not be worried anymore' for a number of reasons, but one of the biggest is that they want them to show up to vote.

They know that on average, Democrats will be more fearful of going to the polls because, well ... we understand reality.

Mail-in voting negates this advantage they've worked (and are sacrificing lives) towards.

It doesn't take many extra people from one side staying home to sway an election in this country, as we've seen on a number of occasions.

[PSPS]

5. Not surprising. The white house's lies keeps everyone stuck in the denial stage

[NJCher]

6. A form of mass hysteria

Mass wishful thinking.

[not fooled]

7. Psychologists must have figured out by now

what the attention span limit is on serious matters. Apparently much of America has hit that limit, which would account for people believing the worst is over even as reality in the form of rising infection rates stares them in the face.

'Muricans who have been infantilized into thinking that their desires and needs take precedence over everything else are particularly likely to get bored with taking precautions.

[murielm99]

8. I hear too many news shows

and talk shows imply that the pandemic is past. They preface stories with comments like, "During the pandemic..."

They go on to elaborate on how sports teams are beginning to practice again, how bars and restaurants are opening, etc. etc.

It is implied, not stated outright. People need some hope, but this is not right. It is misleading. We are still in the middle of the pandemic. Maybe we are still at the beginning of it.

[yaesu]

10. and this is what freedom works, fox and tRump are trying to accomplish. nt

[marie999]

11. People are tired of the pandemic and the masks and the social distancing.

They delude themselves so they can get back to a normal life. Even with the spikes, I believe that it is going to be harder and harder to control the pandemic. You can find many quotes that basically say that one death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic.

[Warpy]

12. Yes and no. Certainly there is a lot of magican thinking

coming from misplaced faith in authority, whether government or religious, telling them that it's certainly safe to go get their hair cut or do lunch in an indoor restaurant.

However, it seems that a lot of people who think this way are also avoiding crowds like theater, indoor sports, and Dumdum's pep rallies for hate.

Isolation at home was never a long term strategy for dealing with this virus, it was only to buy time to develop treatments and real strategies for reducing the risk. There was some success with the former but the lack of a central government failed in the latter.

I'm afraid we're all on our own now, all of us determining what level of risk we find acceptable.

Don't expect case number to do anything but keep skyrocketing up.

[Evolve Dammit]

13. Wishin' don't make it so. The sad reality is many people still believe the crap from the White Hous

e, which has been in denial since January. The propaganda has worked; a pandemic has been politicized. Americans are burned out and his base is complacent or angry at the librul hoax taking away their freedumb. Quite remarkable, albeit really depressing to realize how gullible a large segment of the U.S. actually is. The carnival barker/ huckster is a master at manipulation of reality for those unable to care or discern.

[paleotn]

15. A growing number of Americans...

can barely tie their own shoes.

[LuckyLib]

21. Much less read. Faux, WH, and radio propaganda is their

source of information.

[Scalded Nun]

16. Lazy, entitled, stupid and gullible

This is our nation, and as much as I'd like to blame Fox for all of this, the blame has many, many contributors.

[Marthe48]

17. The plague stories

Andromeda Strain The Stand, Contagion, Outbreak, White Plague, jam all the action into an entertainment length. people forget that the novels and movies dispensed with months or even years with a few sentences or scenes. Even the reality of the Ebola outbreak, that the news followed anyway, was about 3 months. In reality, Ebola stills affects people in certain parts of the world, and there is still major concern about containing it when there is an outbreak. But we are trained to think anything that happens will last a short time and fade away. Unfortunately, Covid-19 is here, and it is not going away. Yesterday, deaths in the world went over 500,000. I think the U.S. will pass 130,000 by July 1.

History tells us that The Black Death peaked from 1347-1251 -- 4 Years. The hits on Google say call it the 1918 Pandemic, but read the fine print, 4 waves from 1918-1920.

We are living in an ongoing threat. People are dying in large numbers from one illness and if we don't keep wearing masks, isolating, and social-distancing, it'll keep happening. And since Covid-19 is able to live and successfully reproduce in us, a new host, it is here with us from now on. I expect to live in a mask and be isolated for the rest of my life. I expect to see more shortages, more economic disaster and more social upheaval. I hope that in this travail, that we can create a better supply system, better economic opportunities for the majority of people, and a society that embraces all of us equally.

[earthside]

18. We're not very tough people anymore.

I know, that is a problematic sentence ... "We're not very tough people anymore."

But the point is that for all the bluster and shouting of the Trumpicans, this cohort is just that: loud-mouthed weenies.

[LeftInTX]

19. I dunno, toilet paper hoarding started again

[Dustlawyer]

20. Come visit me if you believe the worst is over.

Due to Trump, his idiot cult members ruined the quarantine, making it worthless. Those no mask wearing S.O.B.s kept it spreading while the rest of us sacrificed. They wasted the trillions added to our deficit to do what needed to be done to beat back this horrible contagion.

Now hundreds of thousands will needlessly die for their stupidity. The RW media programmed these cult members over decades and helped to put Trump in charge. They have a lot to answer for and we have our work cut out for us to demand change in our news organizations. These cult members are only acting on their programming. They believe because of the daily bombardment of propaganda of hate and fear they have subjected themselves to for decades. It was always readily available to them. During Obama’s 8 years in office they were never presented with anything Obama did in a positive light, not one time!

Now the Republicans have a monster they answer to instead of controlling. If we can ever heal this needs to stop. To do that we have to also end campaign donations, super PACs, dark money, and the revolving door. The plutocrats had their politician’s open up too early so the cult members had to be told that the virus was a hoax or the same as the flu.

This is how we got here. Now let’s demand these changes to stop this from happening again!

[sakabatou]

22. *headdesk*

[Initech]

23. No we're in the first period intermission. We've still got two more to go.

And then that will be followed by overtime and a shoot out. Things will get much much worse. And we will all be in denial about what is happening.

[roamer65]

24. Boy, are they wrong.

[McCamy Taylor]

25. They are just bored and want some other news

[Rebl2]

26. These folks

just can’t deal with the reality. They have always been able to go where they want when they want.

[Aussie105]

27. The USA has added another state to it's territories.

The State of Denial.
Easy to join, but there may be a cost attached.

But be real, in all the epidemic, pandemic and disaster movies, as well as the Alien Invasion ones, the problem is defined and solved all neatly within the length of the movie.
So this one should be over soon, right? It's already gone way over time, not funny any more!

But I can see this happening:
"Bring out your dead!" Handcarts down every street, people in biosuits collecting the bodies.

Wave 1 isn't over yet in most places, but wave 2 is starting up. It was the big one in the Spanish flu epidemic.