Richie Williams' family in Charlotte, North Carolina, has "stepped up our sanitization game" and are wearing protective masks. Lisa Adolf of Everett, Washington, is taking care to have plenty of her daily prescriptions on hand at home. And Chris Zeiders of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, isn't doing much differently from usual except for the occasional elbow bump in lieu of a handshake.
An exclusive USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll taken Tuesday and Wednesday finds Americans are worried about the novel coronavirus and are beginning to see its effect on their daily lives. Many express greater concern about what the pandemic may mean for their financial well-being than for their health.
"I'm more worried about my finances and the general economy than I am about the actual virus," Fallon Prigmore, 24, a retail worker from Auburn, Alabama, reported in the poll. "For me personally, this is a time where I wish my finances were more stable."
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Nearly half of those surveyed said the coronavirus, known as COVID-19, posed a high level of threat to the stock market and to the global economy. In contrast, just 15% said it was a high threat to them personally.
More than a third, though, said they haven't made any of a series of changes in their daily lives because of the coronavirus, and almost a third said they don't plan to make any adjustments in the future.
“The coronavirus outbreak is a fast-moving event and the American public is still learning what it means,” said Chris Jackson of Ipsos. “This USA TODAY/Ipsos survey on coronavirus is a snapshot of a specific point in time, and with the relatively low levels of personal fear this looks like the calm before the storm. As more events occur – like the new travel ban to Europe or the NBA suspending its season – we should expect levels of concern to rise as well.”
The online poll of 1,005 adults has a credibility interval (akin to a margin of error) of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
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Some have adjusted their routines
More than half of those surveyed said they have started washing their hands more frequently, a step that public health officials describe as an important line of defense. One in 5 decided against attending a social event to avoid exposure, and only 1 in 10 have canceled a personal trip. Thirteen percent said they would consider delaying making a major purchase, a dent in consumer confidence that could have an impact on the economy.
Women were more likely to report washing their hands more often than men were, 58% compared with 50%. The gap was much larger between Democrats and Republicans: 63% of Democrats were washing their hands more often, but just 48% of Republicans were doing so. It's possible that double-digit partisan divide reflects President Donald Trump's assurances that most Americans have a very low risk of infection; his voice carries particular weight with his fellow Republicans.
Lisa Adolf, 63, has had no trouble following the advice she has gotten: "Stay away from crowds and not worry too much." The retired clerical worker added, "I'm like that anyway."
A decade ago, she contracted the H1N1 flu, a pandemic that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says resulted in more than 12,000 deaths. That experience was particularly difficult because she didn't have health care coverage at the time, she said. But in the end, "I got over it just fine. ... I don't believe in panicking over these things."
There were broad fears about what may be ahead, however. More than half were concerned that someone in their city or town would be diagnosed with the disease, or that their child's school would be closed. Close to half, 44%, worried that their local hospital won't have the resources to treat infected patients. A third were concerned that they wouldn't be able to go to work or that their retirement savings would lose money.
"There's going to be a major economic impact," warned Zeiders, a financial adviser who said he has "run all the numbers myself" on the virus. "Once the panic is gone, my biggest concern is the trickle-down effect of supply lines."
When it comes to what the government should be doing, nearly 9 of 10 said the diagnostic test for coronavirus should be widely available. Shortages of the tests have been a source of alarm for public health officials. "We're not getting the total accurate number of the cases or the exposure of the virus ... because the testing is limited right now," said Williams, an IT security worker. "That concerns me most."
Three-fourths supported mandatory quarantines for people returning from high-risk countries such as China, South Korea, Iran and Italy and backed temporarily stopping immigration from those countries entirely. Nearly two-thirds supported passage of legislation to provide paid sick leave for workers.
But Americans were split down the middle over whether to cancel large-scale events, a step some governors and mayors have taken: 39% supported the idea; 39% opposed it.
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Whom do they trust for information?
The most trusted source was the CDC, trusted by 79% of Republicans and 86% of Democrats.
But attitudes toward other sources of information reflected the country's partisan divide. While 72% of Republicans trusted Trump, for instance, just 14% of Democrats agreed. And while 56% of Democrats trusted the news media, just 23% of Republicans agreed.
"It doesn't sound like preventative measures are going to do a whole lot, anyway," Zeiders said. "It's going to be bad this year. ... But should we all be changing everything about the way we do things?"
Right now, he said, the answer for him is "no."
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