Do Americans Care About The Latest COVID-19 Wave In The Northeast?

A fresh wave of COVID-19 cases swept through the U.S. Capitol last week, affecting a number of officials at the highest levels of government just as President Biden’s administration urges for a return to normalcy.

But it’s not just Capitol Hill that’s seeing a fresh round of COVID-19 infections. The highly contagious omicron BA.2 subvariant has led to an uptick in new cases across the Northeast. The New York Times’s tracker shows that cases for New York City have risen by over 60 percent, with cases rising over 140 percent in Washington, D.C., over the same period. But according to recent polling, a majority of Americans are still ready to put the pandemic behind them. 

Per the latest Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index, the number of Americans partaking in activities outside of their homes is on the rise. As of April 8-11, 65 percent of respondents reported going out to eat recently, while another 66 percent said they’ve visited with friends or family. That’s a sharp uptick from January, the survey noted, when only 46 percent and 50 percent of Americans, respectively, said the same.