More people feel threatened by hantavirus than COVID
The Ipsos Consumer Tracker, fielded on Ipsos' Omnibus platform, asks Americans questions about culture, the economy and the forces that shape our lives. Here's one thing we learned this week.
Why we asked about hantavirus: A new threat popped up on our radar after cruise passengers were sickened with the rare hantavirus.
What we found: While few think hantavirus is a high threat, more think so than think COVID is a high threat, which we tested again earlier this month. Meanwhile, many fewer see it as a low threat. Just over half (56%) see hantavirus as a low threat vs. 68% for COVID.
Why? Is it because it’s newly in the news? Is it because most Americans, at least, lived through having COVID personally, and didn’t feel it was that bad for them? Is it that people don’t really understand this virus, how people are exposed and how it’s transmitted? (The New York Times has a handy flow chart of how “freaked out” you should be — gift link, and its answer is not really freaked out at all.)
Or is it just that we remember the early signals of COVID and hope this isn’t going to turn out the same?
More insights from this wave of the Ipsos Consumer Tracker:
Americans are warming up on summer plans, despite high gas prices
More Americans say AI tools are being used at work
Americans’ appetite for functional foods varies widely
The Ipsos Care-o-Meter: What does America know about vs. what does America care about?
