US is getting better and better news on the coronavirus – CNN

Both of these were all-time highs in Ipsos polling.

What's the point: The Covid-19 pandemic has been horrible. Hundreds are still dying daily because of the coronavirus. Things are still not back to normal.

But if we're looking at the data, it's pretty clear that there are a lot of reasons for optimism.

These new vaccinations come on top of the polling data gains previously discussed. The US seems to be moving slowly forward in our vaccination campaign.

As long as we keep up with anywhere close to the same number of adults getting vaccinated a day, we should reach Biden's goal and then some.

It's important to keep in mind that the increase in vaccinations is coming at a time when other metrics look good as well.

But we shouldn't just be looking at a person's physical state to understand their well being. Their mental state is important too. The news there is also good.

A lower share of the population (14%) than since the pandemic began said their emotional well being was worse this week than last week, according to the Ipsos poll. And for the first time in the pandemic era, more people said mental health had improved than gotten worse in the last week.

Part of the reason our mental health may be improving is that Americans are going out and gathering with friends more than they have at any other point in the pandemic. The fact that Americans are doing less social distancing and yet illness rates are falling is also perhaps the ultimate sign that America's vaccination campaign is working.

The Ipsos poll found that more Americans visited friends in the last week (59%), which is the highest of the pandemic. The percentage of Americans in the last week wearing a mask at all times outside (58%) is at its lowest level since last June, before mask wearing was commonplace. The fact that we're still seeing case declines with lower mask wearing is a very good sign. Recent masking declines have been driven by vaccinated people being more willing to unmask when going out.

All of this data demonstrates why it's so important that we keep up the vaccination campaign. If we do so, we'll be able to safely do more and more of the activities we enjoy.

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US is getting better and better news on the coronavirus - CNN