- 48% believe there’s a large or moderate risk of contracting a respiratory illness other than COVID.
- But only 27% said they’ve changed their behavior in any way to reduce potential exposure.
- 6% said they’d had a medical appointment delayed, canceled or triaged recently because an emergency facility was overwhelmed.
Positive mood: The lack of behavioral shifts may be connected to the public’s generally positive mood.
- Large majorities said they had very or somewhat good physical health (84%), mental health (84%), emotional well-being (85%) and home life (90%).
- 77% reported having very or somewhat good personal finances, despite the roiling economy.
- There’s also an apparent concern for putting others in harm’s way. Asked about their top concern related to COVID, 29% said spreading the virus to people at higher risk of serious illness — far ahead of other factors like developing “long COVID” or dealing with restrictions.
Methodology: This Axios/Ipsos Poll was conducted December 2-5 by Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,147 general population adults age 18 or older.
- The margin of sampling error is ±3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults.