The following is an excerpt of a report from Gallup.
- Percentage “very confident” they can avoid infection drops in July
- Nearly two-thirds worried about variants spreading; three in 10 “very worried”
- Vaccine resisters are the exception, with fewer than one in five worried
With the delta variant driving COVID-19 infection rates back up in July, Americans have become less confident that they can protect themselves when in public from catching the coronavirus. The percentage who are “very confident” fell to 38% at the end of the month, after rising to a pandemic high of 51% in May and remaining near that level, at 50%, in June. For most of last year, fewer than one in four Americans were very confident they could protect themselves.
Another 52% of adults now feel “somewhat confident” they can protect themselves in public from the coronavirus, and 10% are “not too” or “not at all” confident.
These findings are from Gallup’s July 19-26 update of its monthly COVID-19 tracking study, conducted by web using the nationally representative Gallup Panel. Since the poll was completed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has intensified its warnings about the dangers the delta variant poses and has recommended that vaccinated people wear face masks in certain areas. New research also indicates that the variant is as contagious as chickenpox and the common cold, and that vaccinated people who are sickened by it are as likely as unvaccinated people to spread it.
