From Gallup Survey:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — At the same time Americans’ satisfaction with the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine has surged, their concerns about getting the virus and about the availability of coronavirus tests and hospital services/treatment have fallen to record lows.
Thirty-five percent of U.S. adults now say they are very or somewhat worried about contracting COVID-19, the lowest point in Gallup’s trend since April 2020. Twenty-two percent of Americans are very or moderately worried about access to hospital services/treatment, and 14% are just as worried about access to COVID-19 tests.
A top epidemiologist said Sunday the latest COVID-19 surge has put the world in “category 5 hurricane status” — and that the United States is on the brink of a fourth surge of the virus.
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said in the next two weeks, “we will see the highest number of cases reportedly globally.”
“In terms of the United States, we’re just at the beginning of this surge,” he said. “We haven’t even begun to see it yet. We have had over the course of the past year, surges of cases that occur in the upper Midwest and Northeast. We see big increases in cases through the southern Sunbelt states. Then the Northeast and Midwest come back. We’re in the cycle where the Upper Midwest is just beginning to start this fourth surge.”