The impacts and changes to the lives of Central Virginia residents brought about by the past two months of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic are profound and will be long-lasting.
Trust in the federal government is low, and faith in the state government’s response to the crisis is higher, as many residents struggle with competing feelings about protecting public health and returning the economy to better health.
A slow and cautious return to opening up Virginia is favored by the vast majority of residents in recent surveys.
Trust in rosy scenarios painted by politicians remains low; few people think it’s safe enough to fly or attend large gatherings or eat in crowded restaurants.
Anxiety and a lack of certainty surround the questions that families routinely consider:
Is it safe to go to the beach and share a house with 10 to 15 friends or extended family members?
When is the right time to go back to a park or recreational facility, to allow folks to take a swim or work out in a gym?
Will it be safe to travel across the state or the nation and stay away from home?
When should camps, schools and universities reopen, and how can they assure safety for students, teachers and staff?
No one knows when people who enjoy sports in packed arenas and stadiums will have a chance to cheer for the home team, especially if the push to return to normal lives backfires and leads to COVID-19 outbreaks. Will games be played in empty stadiums in silence, or even with loud noises piped to create a home-field advantage?
People who ignore official appeals to wear masks in public or who fail to follow social distancing regulations feed widespread anxiety that opening the economy too fast will cause illness spikes and new waves of deaths. That could result in more stay-at-home orders.
Two-thirds of Central Virginia residents say keeping people at home during current conditions is more important than re-opening businesses. However, area residents who have jobs that they can’t do from home are more likely to favor opening up, according to the survey, conducted by the Center for Survey Research at the University of Virginia’s Cooper Center for Public Service.
Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control are the most trusted sources for information about COVID-19, with approximately three in four respondents to the April 28-May 5 survey mostly or completely trusting each. Two-thirds of residents mostly or completely trust Gov. Ralph Northam. President Donald Trump was the least trusted source, with 70 percent reporting they do not trust him at all for information on COVID-19.
Results of the recent survey show half the respondents are having trouble sleeping, 25 percent are consuming more alcohol, and nearly 17 percent feel the pandemic has impacted their mental health and emotional well-being.
A strong majority support state government stay-at-home and shutdown orders, finding them legal, but 6 percent consider them a wholesale violation of freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution.
The survey results showing lack of trust in one level of government are troubling.
A loss of trust could be long-term. Divisive reactions to the pandemic reflect deep cultural splits in our state and nation.
Time will tell if the pandemic’s deep pain and transformational responses open healing to the nation’s deepest wounds.
Bob Gibson is communications director and senior researcher at the University of Virginia’s Cooper Center for Public Service. The opinions expressed here are his own and not necessarily those of the center.
