COVID-19 Scan for Jul 08, 2022

Survey shows Americans souring on COVID-19 responseAmericans are not happy with the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new survey from Pew Research Center.The survey of more than 10,000 US adults, conducted in early May, found that 62% think the country's COVID-19 response has given too little priority to the needs of K-12 students, while significant shares say too little priority has been given to supporting overall quality of life (48%), business and economic activity (46%), and respecting individuals' choices (46%).The survey also found the proportion of US adults who rated public health officials as doing an excellent/good responding to the pandemic has fallen from 79% in March 2020 to 52%.While many Americans appear to be moving on from the pandemic—45% of survey respondents said they now consider COVID-19 a minor threat—there are concerns that the highly transmissible and immune-evasive BA.

5 Omicron sub-variant, which now accounts for 53.6% of new US COVID-19 cases, could change the picture. That appears to be what's happening in Europe, where BA.5 and BA.4 are driving a new wave of infections, a European Medicines Agency official said yesterday in an online briefing, according to the Associated Press.The current 7-day average of new US COVID-19 cases is 105,971, with 303 daily deaths and 37,590 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, according to the Washington Post tracker.

But as has been the case for several months, the true number of infections is likely much higher, given that many home tests are going unreported.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 Community Levels Map, which is based on hospital admissions and inpatient bed metrics, shows that nearly 59% of US