Seventy percent of Americans now agree with the statement "It's time we accept that COVID is here to stay and we just need to get on with our lives," a new Monmouth University poll found.
Of those who report having had COVID-19, 78 percent agreed with the statement, while 65 percent who say they never got the virus also agree.
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Despite this readiness to move past COVID, however, people remain concerned about the virus.
Sixty-two percent of Americans said they were concerned about someone in their family becoming seriously ill from COVID, and a slim majority supported "instituting, or reinstituting, face mask and social distancing guidelines in your state at the current time."
According to Patrick Murray, the director of Monmouth's Polling Institute, "Americans' worries about COVID haven't gone away. It seems more to be a realization that we are not going to get this virus under control in a way that we thought was possible just last year."
Monmouth also suggested that "faith in the ability of President Joe Biden and the federal government to get a handle on the pandemic continues to fade."
Only 43 percent of Americans said Biden has done a good job handling COVID, the first time his approval rating on this issue has dropped below 50 percent since he took office.
Expectations for the future are also low. Those who expect COVID to continue disrupting life into 2023 or to continue to do so forever comprise 60 percent of respondents, while only 34 percent believe things will be back to normal by the end of 2022.
The poll was conducted from Jan. 20 to 24, surveyed 794 adults, and has an error margin of 3.5 percent.
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