The 24-hour drumbeat of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) news reports appears to have taken a toll on the audience in the United States, with fewer people checking for updates multiple times a day and more people making plans to get out of the house, a nationwide poll commissioned by WTOP radio revealed on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th April, 2020) The 24-hour drumbeat of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) news reports appears to have taken a toll on the audience in the United States, with fewer people checking for updates multiple times a day and more people making plans to get out of the house, a nationwide poll commissioned by WTOP radio revealed on Tuesday.
"The number of those checking for COVID-19 updates multiple times a day is down 9 points from last week to 33 percent, and daily news consumption stands at 73 percent, down 5 points," a WTOP report summarizing the poll said. "The number of Americans who believe coronavirus is a real threat dropped for the first time - down 4 points, to 79 percent."
The latest survey marks the fourth consecutive week for the nationwide poll by Heart + Mind Strategies commissioned by WTOP, a premier radio news provider for the Washington, DC region and - due to its location - much of the US government.
"I think we're seeing increasing fatigue people have on just the amount of news that's being generated by this situation," senior consultant with the polling firm Erin Norman said in the report.
One-in-five are planning personal travel, up 8 percent from the previous week, and 22 percent plan to dine out in the next two weeks, up six percent from last week's poll.
The trend toward planning out-of-home activities is being driven largely by millennials - those born in the early 1980s through early 1990s - as people grow weary of the present situation, according to the report.
