70 percent worried about another pandemic in their lifetimes: poll

A new poll indicates that the prospect of a future pandemic is of significant concern for American adults. 

A new Morning Consult poll found that 70 percent of U.S. adults were concerned about another pandemic happening in their lifetime.

Of those respondents, 31 percent were “very concerned” and 39 percent were “somewhat concerned” about the issue, according to the survey. 

Democrats who responded to the poll were more concerned about another pandemic than Republicans, with 82 percent and 58 percent of those groups voicing concern, respectively.

Vaccinated individuals who were polled also showed more concern than their unvaccinated counterparts, with 74 percent and 61 percent from each category saying they were concerned, respectively.

Morning Consult noted that $10 billion of the $1.75 trillion social spending plan would be allocated to prepare for future pandemics. Even so, just 47 percent of people polled said they thought the country would be ready to handle another health crisis like COVID-19. 

The survey was conducted between Nov. 3 and Nov. 5 and included 2,200 U.S. adults. It had a margin of error of 2 percentage points. 

U.S. COVID-19 cases are currently up by nearly 27 percent in the past three weeks, in line with a steady increase in case numbers since mid-October. 

Specifically, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that as of Nov. 14, the seven-day average was more than 80,000 daily cases, up from 63,852 on Oct. 24, representing a jump of more than 26 percent in three weeks.