A survey released by the Pew Research Center on July 7 showed that as the COVID-19 entered its third year, Americans were increasingly dissatisfied with the anti epidemic work of the local and federal governments, which had fallen to the lowest level since the outbreak. Some analysts believe that the survey results show that Americans have lost trust in public health experts and government leaders to a large extent.
Gradually lose trust
From May 2 to May 8, the Pew Research Center conducted an online survey of nearly 10000 American adults, covering all aspects of the epidemic. The survey results mainly include the following points:
First, the American people are increasingly dissatisfied with the government's anti epidemic work, which has fallen to the lowest level since the outbreak of the epidemic. For example, Americans' praise rate for the "anti epidemic" of officials from CDC and other institutions has gradually decreased from 79% in early 2020 to 52% today; The "anti epidemic praise rate" for local government officials has gradually decreased from 69% in early 2020 to 54% today.
The "anti epidemic praise rate" of US President Biden also showed a downward trend. 56% of the respondents thought Biden's performance in the fight against the epidemic was mediocre, and another 43% agreed. At the beginning of Biden's appointment, 65% of Americans said they were confident in Biden's ability to fight the epidemic. When competing with trump for the presidency, this is also regarded as a major advantage of Biden.
In contrast, Americans' "anti epidemic praise rate" of medical institutions is at a high level, although it has also decreased - from 88% in early 2020 to 80% today.
The New York Times believes that the survey results show that Americans have lost trust in public health experts and government leaders to a large extent. Previous studies have found that public trust in the government helps to reduce the covid-19 infection rate.
Second, the survey found obvious partisan differences. Overall, 52% of the respondents recognized the anti epidemic work of public health officials. From a party perspective, 72% of Democrats and 29% of Republicans hold this view respectively.
Party differences are also reflected on another level. When asked whether they believe the U.S. medical system can cope with health emergencies in the future, 67% of Democrats and 51% of Republicans expressed confidence, indicating that Democrats are more optimistic.
Yvonne Maldonado, chairman of the infectious diseases Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics, believes that the distrust of the American people towards the government and politicians, and even science to a certain extent, existed long before the outbreak of the epidemic, which only exacerbated the partisan differences on related issues in the United States.
No more attention?
Third, Americans are less worried about infection or transmission of the virus than before. Although the daily average number of newly confirmed covid-19 cases in the United States is still about 100000, 76% of respondents believe that the local epidemic has passed the "darkest hour", which is higher than about 50% in January. Alec Tyson, deputy director of the Pew Research Center and the main author of the survey, said that this was the first time so many Americans believed so since the outbreak.
Americans' contempt for COVID-19 can also be seen from another data. Only about 25% of the respondents believed that novel coronavirus posed a major threat to their personal health, down from 30% in January.
Robert Wachter, professor and Dean of the Department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, believes that there are three factors contributing to this phenomenon, namely, "covid-19 fatigue", a significant reduction in mortality, and the increasing prevalence of covid-19 infection.
Fourth, in terms of anti epidemic methods, nearly half of the respondents recognized the effectiveness of vaccination and wearing masks in curbing the spread of novel coronavirus. At the same time, Americans are more skeptical of the effectiveness of maintaining social distance, with only 34% approving.
More than 100000 per day?
In view of the epidemic situation in the United States, the findings are not surprising. The latest statistics from Johns Hopkins University in the United States show that the cumulative number of confirmed covid-19 cases in the United States has exceeded 88million, with more than 1.02 million deaths.
The results of this investigation came at a time when the epidemic in the United States had not yet subsided. Affected by the spread of Omicron and its variant strain, the epidemic in the United States peaked at the beginning of this year, and then eased with the winter. In the U.S. mid-term election year, the COVID-19 and its response seem to have faded from the democratic election list.
However, since April, the local epidemic has shown an upward trend. According to U.S. media reports, in the past month and a half, the United States has added about 100000 new confirmed covid-19 cases a day. The CDC said that 70.1% of the newly confirmed covid-19 cases in the United States last week were caused by the mutant strain of Omicron ba 4 and ba 5 subtype, while the proportion was only 1% in early May. At the same time, the previous major epidemic strain Omicron ba 2.12.1 and ba The cases caused by subtype 2 showed a downward trend.
However, many people believe that the real figure may be much higher. On the one hand, ba 4 and ba Subtype 5 has strong infectivity, short incubation period, fast transmission speed, and a high proportion of asymptomatic infections. On the other hand, with the closure of large-scale testing sites, more and more Americans now rely on home testing. In addition, the reduction in the frequency of cases reported by States has also blurred the picture of the epidemic in the United States.