68 percent of Americans say they know someone diagnosed with COVID-19: poll

Most Americans now know someone who has had COVID-19 according to a survey from NBC News and Survey Monkey.

Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed said they personally knew someone who had contracted the coronavirus since December.

The NBC News report broke down the information along party lines and found that numbers were nearly the same regardless of political affiliation. Among those who identified themselves as independents, the lowest percent reported knowing someone who had contracted the coronavirus at 61 percent. The highest percentage was found among people who identified as Democrats with 72 percent reporting the same.

More than 30 percent said that someone in their household had been tested for the coronavirus in the past 30 days. The same poll showed that 74 percent of adults said the virus had majorly impacted their lives in some way.

The article notes that other coronavirus-related numbers have largely remained the same, including how people viewed President Trump and the coronavirus with 45 percent of them strongly disapproving of how he and the federal government have handled the virus and 31 percent strongly approving.

Another surge of coronavirus cases has begun in parts of the U.S. with cases rising daily and record amounts of positive cases being reported in some states. On Monday, top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said of the rising cases, “No matter how you look at it, it’s not good news.”

On Sunday, Fauci said in a BBC interview that the safety and efficacy of one or more vaccines would be known in the next month or so. If a vaccine proved to be viable, immunizations for healthcare workers and those at high risk of complications would be expected to begin in the first few months of 2021, with widespread vaccinations occurring in the third or fourth quarter.

The survey was conducted from Oct. 19-25 and had a sample size of 73,903.