One quarter of Americans believe the Chinese coronavirus pandemic has already ended, but one-third believe it will “never” end, a survey from The Economist/YouGov found.
The survey asked respondents, “In your opinion, when do you think the COVID-19 pandemic will finally end?”
One quarter, 25 percent, expressed the belief that the pandemic, which began in early 2020, “has already ended.” However, roughly one-third, 32 percent, believe it will “never end,” followed by 22 percent who believe it will end “after 2023” and 15 percent who believe it will end “in 2023.”
Opinions vary slightly on party lines, as 40 percent of Republicans believe the pandemic is already over. That opinion is only shared by 24 percent of independents and 13 percent of Democrats. Thirty-six percent of independents believe the pandemic will “never” be over, and 28 percent of Republicans and 30 percent of Democrats agree.
The survey was taken November 19-22, 2022, among 1,500 U.S. citizens and comes months after President Joe Biden declared the pandemic “over.”
“The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. It’s — but the pandemic is over,” he said during a September appearance on CBS’s 60 Minutes.
“If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it’s changing. And I think this is a perfect example of it,” Biden added.
His declaration prompted outcry, as Biden critics then called on emergency powers to be “voided” and all vaccine mandates lifted moving forward, given the president’s declaration:
In September, World Health Organization (W.H.O.) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the “end” of the pandemic was “in sight.”
However, Americans have largely returned to a state of pre-pandemic normalcy over two years after the beginning of the pandemic, even though some local officials are now “strongly recommending” masks yet again.