Fewer Americans concerned about contracting COVID-19 | The Numbers Racket

Nearly three months after Pennsylvania began shutting down schools and businesses due to the growing number of cases of COVID-19, fewer Americans are concerned about themselves or their loved ones contracting the disease that has killed 3,731 across the commonwealth as of May 11, according to a new Monmouth University poll. 

The poll also found that Americans’ perception of the impact of the pandemic has stabilized since the outbreak started to spread in late March. 

Let’s take a look at the data: 

Note: The Monmouth University Poll was conducted by telephone from April 30 to May 4, 2020 with 808 adults in the United States.  The question results in this release have a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points. The poll was conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch, NJ.

42 … the percentage of Americans are very concerned about someone in their family becoming seriously ill from the coronavirus. This is down from 50 percent last month. 

28 … the percentage of Americans who are somewhat concerned about someone in their family becoming seriously ill from the coronavirus. 

14 … the percentage of Americans who are not too concerned about someone in their family becoming seriously ill from the coronavirus. 

16 … the percentage of Americans who are not concerned at all about someone in their family becoming seriously ill from the coronavirus. 

The decrease in concern comes as the percentage of people who report knowing someone who has contracted the virus has grown. 

Currently, 40 percent of Americans report knowing someone who has gotten the virus, an increase from the 26 percent reported last month. 

Two percent of Americans report that they have had the coronavirus themselves, up from 1 percent in April. 

Fourteen percent say a family member has contracted the virus, a 7 percent increase from April. 

Race

White Americans remain less likely to report that they or someone in their family has gotten the coronavirus. 

Twelve percent of white Americans, up from 5 percent in April, report that they or someone in their family has gotten the coronavirus. 

Black, Latino and Asian Americans saw an 11 percent increase in reports that they or someone in their family has gotten the coronavirus from 12 percent to 23 percent. 

While all races show a decrease in concern since April, it is more evident among white Americans. 

34 … the percentage of white Americans who are very concerned about the virus.

55 … the percentage of Latinos and those of other races who are very concerned about the virus. 

Impact

The Monmouth poll found that half of respondents expressed some level of confidence that the country will be able to limit the outbreak’s impact over the next few weeks. 

Sixteen percent are very confident that the country will be able to limit the outbreak’s impact over the next few weeks. 

Thirty-four percent are somewhat confident that the country will be able to limit the outbreak’s impact over the next few weeks. 

Twenty-five percent are not at all confident that the pandemic will be brought under control soon. 

The poll found that 40 percent of Americans report losing income due to a decrease in work during the pandemic-induced shutdowns. 

41 … the percentage of Americans who reported having an income loss in April. This is up from 35 percent in March. 

23 … the percentage of Americans that report struggling to pay their bills, which remains basically the same from 22 percent last month. The question was not asked in March. 

31 … the percentage of Americans that report someone in their household has been laid off from work because of the outbreak. Thirty percent said the same in April.