In a survey of  behavior and sentiment conducted by Numerator, a market research group, 71 percent of those responding agreed that the U.S. will have to live with social concessions to COVID-19 and will probably never return to pre-COVID ‘normality’. 

It is noteworthy that half of consumers prefer to shop at retailers requiring masks.  This group of responders were subdivided as to 61 percent receiving a COVID vaccination and 20 percent unvaccinated.  A total of 60 percent of consumers prefer to wear masks in public.  Again with a marked difference of 68 percent vaccinated compared to 31 percent unvaccinated. 

Respondents elicited concern over the Omicron variant although more were aware of and worried over the currently dominant Delta variant.  There is still sentiment that rising incidence rates attributable to the Omicron variant will result in lockdowns with one-third anticipating enhanced restrictions.  This is approximately half the level of concern over lockdowns due to the Delta variant during the summer of 2020.