LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky asked more than 800 adults if the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
Sixty-five percent of them said no. But when asked if they considered it to be over pertaining to their own life, 53% said yes.
Dr. Jason Smith, chief medical officer for UofL Health, said that's indicative of people's fatigue of the last two-plus years.
"We've all dealt with it and we're all dealing with it right now," he said.
Smith said the data shows the pandemic is not over, with current positivity rates across the state near 20%. And the University of Louisville's recent wastewater testing reflects a similar trend.
"About three weeks ago, we hit the highest level we've ever seen since we started doing this work," said Dr. Ted Smith, director of UofL's Envirome Institute Center for Healthy Air, Water and Soil. "So it really has been going up in the surges."
But the most recent wave of COVID-19 has resulted in fewer hospitalizations, giving people hope for where things currently stand.
"We appear to have gone through the worst of it," said Ben Chandler, president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. "The people are not dying at the rates that they were dying. Most of the vulnerable people are vaccinated."
It's for those reasons that Chandler isn't surprised by the results of their survey.
"I think that the findings (are) pretty much (on) track with what we know anecdotally, what we can see with our own eyes," he said. "I mean, it ought to be clear to everybody, just by going out in public, that a sizable percentage of people in Kentucky are behaving as if the pandemic is over."
Though Dr. Jason Smith agrees the current variant isn't as severe, he cautioned people against letting guards down too early, considering the consequences for the vulnerable.
"If we allow this to run rampant through the communities unchecked, it will eventually find someone that will die from this disease," he said. "And it may be a loved one, it may be someone you care about it, it may be someone you know, and that's still a possibility."
Both the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and UofL hope their respective work can continue to inform and educate about COVID-19 and its impact.
"It's hard to convince people, you know, what the pandemic means to them or what it should mean to them," Dr. Ted Smith said. "But I'm glad that we're part of a partnership with Metro Public Health to provide this level of vigilance."
As COVID-19 spreads, and until things transition into an endemic state, Dr. Jason Smith urges continued caution.
"I remind people it's not over," he said. "Continue to protect yourselves. Continue to take care of your family and take care of those who you love and wear masks and wash your hands."
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