Americans are reentering a more expansive state of mind. COVID seems less threatening. More of us are resuming our normal lives. But this raises the question – what is “normal” after two years of a global pandemic? Hard to say. COVID will leave its imprint long into the future.
One of the more obvious ways it has changed us is in our collective approach to health risk mitigation strategies. Most of us will now be more open to wearing masks, more mindful of washing hands and occupying public spaces going forward. Our data suggests that masks are lagging indicators – donned as the perceived risk of COVID rises, set aside as it diminishes.
Another, less positive outcome is the extent to which the public remains divided (or simply confused) about what level of threat COVID represents. CONTINUED
Clifford Young & Catherine Morris, Ipsos
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