Fewer Americans say public health officials doing excellent or good job responding to virus: poll

Public perceptions of public health officials in the U.S. have fallen as the world has entered its third year of COVID-19. 

A new survey out Wednesday from Pew Research Center showed that about half of people who participated said public health officials including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were doing a fair or poor job, and the other half said officials were doing an excellent or good job.

The figures released Wednesday mark a 10 point drop for positive ratings of COVID-19 health officials since last summer and an even sharper drop since the start of the pandemic.

The survey also showed that 60 percent of respondents have been confused about changes to COVID-19 policies, marking a 7 percent increase since last summer.

But 81 percent of people said that hospitals and medical centers in their area were excellent or good in their handling of the pandemic, a 4 point drop since August. 

President Biden received more negative ratings, with 60 percent of those polled saying his COVID-19 handling was fair or poor and 40 percent saying the president’s performance was excellent or good, the survey also said. 

The survey included 10,237 U.S. adults and was conducted between Jan. 24 and Jan. 30. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

Now, nearly two years since the pandemic drastically changed what life looked like around the world, the White House is under mounting pressure to change its position on masks, especially as more Democratic states move away from mask mandates.

The CDC has said that case rates indicate 99 percent of U.S. counties still have high levels of coronavirus transmission.