Many Americans think catching COVID-19 is inevitable, poll finds

More than 3 in 4 U.S. adults think it is inevitable that most people in the U.S. will eventually get COVID-19, according to polling Friday that finds people across parties and vaccination status feel this way.

The Kaiser Family Foundation found 77% of all persons feel it is inevitable, as the world battles a fast-moving omicron surge.

That includes 77% of vaccinated persons, 74% of the unvaccinated and over 70% of Republicans, Democrats and independents.

Also, 6 in 10 (62%) of those who’ve never tested positive for COVID-19 think it is very or somewhat likely they will be infected in the next year, as societies pivot toward accepting the virus as something that will have to be managed as an endemic disease.

There are sharply divergent views, however, around the power of available vaccines. Overall, 62% of people think the fact many vaccinated people don’t require hospitalization is the sign the shots are working while 34% say the fact vaccinated persons are still becoming infected means they are not working.

A whopping 84% of unvaccinated persons say those infections mean the vaccines are not working compared to only 19% of vaccinated persons.

Only a quarter of Americans say omicron has made them more worried about their personal safety, amid signs the variant causes milder disease. People were more likely to fear the impact on the economy (56%) or their local hospitals (54%) as the number of patients increases because of the sheer spread of the variant.

President Biden is trying to catch up with the variant by offering four free tests to each household and free N95 masks at pharmacies, after complaints he was caught flat-footed by the virus.

About one-quarter of Americans said they had difficulty finding a COVID-19 test within the past month. Roughly another quarter said they tried and didn’t have difficulty while about half did not try.

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.