For the first time since the pandemic started, COVID-19 is not a top concern of Anne Arundel County residents, according to an AACC survey that came out in April.

In the 514-person survey, county residents named crime, drugs and education as their top concerns. Economy, growth, taxes, housing costs and transportation all ranked higher than the virus.

Crime is a top concern for 26% of residents, up from 13% in the fall and 10% last spring, the survey revealed. Also, 20% of respondents ranked drugs as their top issue, up from 9% last fall and 11% last spring.

Residents are “looking at other problems that they just weren’t able to focus on in the past,” AACC political science professor Dan Nataf said. “And drugs are one of them.”

COVID-19 ranked seventh on the list of resident concerns, with 14% of those who participated in the survey selecting it as their top issue. That compares with 53% who named the virus as the county’s greatest problem in spring 2021 and 35% who chose it in fall 2021.

Nataf noted COVID-19 is not as big of a deal as it was over the past two years to residents who took part in the survey.

“So at the same time when it’s declining in importance … people are just willfully deciding to ignore it,” Nataf said. “And just saying, ‘I don’t care anymore.”’

The survey also included responses from 105 AACC students. Their top concerns are economy, COVID and drugs, according to the poll.

Students who spoke to Campus Current named COVID, inflation and racism as their biggest issues.

Second-year business accounting student Jane Nguyen noted she was surprised the residents chose the virus as the seventh-most important issue.

“I feel like COVID impacted a lot of families for the last two years,” Nguyen said. “A lot of people died and suffered because of it. So I feel like it’s supposed to be more important [and] more towards the top of the list.”

Some students told Campus Current their top concerns are inflation and racism. 

“I have a part-time job,” Nguyen said. “It’s 30 minutes away and driving costs a lot of money [and] food is a lot more expensive.”

First-year film studies student Andrew Littin pointed to racism as an issue.

“It’s just after all this time, all these years as a country, America is still infected with all these racist clubs,” Littin said.

Nataf conducts a twice-a-year survey of Anne Arundel County residents about their top concerns.