Coronavirus cases continue to climb in the United States and the country has surpassed 650,000 deaths. Reported concern about being in public spaces remained high this week at nearly 70%. More than 80% of U.S. adults say they’re worried about the Delta variant right now.
After last week, it seems that comfort returning to normal activities reached a plateau. Comfort is still lower than the peaks seen this past June, but higher than this time last year.
One of those “normal activities” is returning to dining in at restaurants but labor shortages and higher food prices are contributing to long wait times and customers are noticing. Within the past month, one-fifth of U.S. adults say that poor or slow service has prevented them from eating out at a restaurant.
Younger, non-white city dwellers are the most likely to report that they’ve recently been avoiding going out to eat.
Moreover, a significant chunk (more than one third) say that it’s unacceptable for businesses to blame poor or slow service on the pandemic at this point – more than a year and a half in.
And of course, this is impacting life at home too. More than 40% of adults report that they’re cooking their own food versus eating restaurant food more than they usually do this time of year.
Want to stay up to date with CivicScience’s weekly COVID-19 Impact Report and how the Delta variant is impacting consumer behavior? Sign up to receive the latest insights and up-to-the-minute data here.
