In January, as the omicron variant was rampant in the U.S. and cases were hitting historic highs, 58% of U.S. adults said the situation was getting worse, 20% said it was getting better, and 22% thought it was staying the same.

Gallup’s latest COVID-19 tracking survey, conducted Feb. 15-23, finds the percentage of Americans who say the situation is getting better has more than tripled to 63%, while pessimism about the direction of the pandemic has fallen 46 percentage points to 12%. The percentage saying the situation is staying the same has remained relatively constant at 25%.

The 63% of U.S. adults now expressing positivity about the direction of the pandemic is the highest since last June after the vaccine was rolled out and infections were down sharply, but it is well below the 89% recorded then. That positive assessment was short-lived as the highly transmissible delta variant of the virus spread throughout the country, and by August, just 15% in the U.S. thought the situation was improving.