Up nine percentage points from the week prior, the number of respondents who think the effects of the coronavirus in the United States will last 6 months or longer reached 36% the week of April 12. The number continues to climb during the week of April 19 to 38%.
This increase occurred right around the worst week the U.S. had seen yet in terms of number of deaths resulting from the coronavirus.
While respondents who answered ‘6+ months’ increased among every single age group, the biggest jumps were among Gen Xers (up twelve percentage points) and Baby Boomers (up fourteen percentage points).
Men and women are in the ‘6+ month’ category at the same rate (according to the last full week reading) at 34% (compared to 26% and 27% respectively, the week prior).
One driver of this jump, of course, could be job loss, which is perhaps sinking in more and more. Among people not working and without pay due to the coronavirus, the percentage of people who said the coronavirus effects will last 6+ months went from 28% during the week of April 5 to 40% during the week of April 12.
Another driving force could be concerns over getting ill which increased among those who think the effects of the virus will last more than 6 months.
However, we see nearly just as much concern about contracting COVID-19 across every category greater than 2 months.Â
Overall it appears that people, for reasons of coping or something else entirely, are just accepting that no end in sight is the new normal.Â