U.S. Concern About Hospital Care Heading Back Up

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' concerns about the availability of coronavirus tests and hospital supplies and services had leveled off in June after steady declines from mid-April through early May. But last week, June 22-28, as COVID-19 cases are spiking across much of the country, concern about both healthcare issues increased.

Forty-four percent of Americans are now very or moderately worried about the availability of hospital supplies, services and treatment in their local area, up 10 points from the prior week. At the same time, concern about the availability of coronavirus tests in their local area is up six points to 39%.

Worry about the availability of hospital supplies and treatment fell from 64% in April to 34% in the week ending June 21 but has risen to 44% in the week ending June 28. Worry about the availability of coronavirus tests has also increased, to 39%, after falling from 60% in April to 33% in mid-June.

Public concern about both issues was much higher in April but started to decline in early May and continued to drop until early June.

Strong Age and Party Gaps Persist in Concern About Testing

Despite monthly changes in the overall level of Americans' who are worried about coronavirus testing in their local area, Democrats, younger Americans and women have consistently worried more about this than their counterparts.

Nonwhites were significantly more concerned about this than whites in May tracking, but the gap has narrowed since then.

	April 6-12	May 4-10	June 15-21	June 22-28
	%	%	%	%
Gender
Men	55	49	29	33
Women	66	56	37	44
Age
18-29	74	63	50	48
30-49	65	58	36	40
50-64	49	42	23	36
65+	59	50	33	34
Race
White	59	48	32	37
Nonwhite	66	64	35	42
Party identification
Democrats	84	78	51	56
Independents	60	52	33	37
Republicans	30	22	12	12
Gallup Panel, 2020

Democrats Lead Worry About Hospital Care

The biggest gap in worry about hospital supplies, services and treatments locally continues to be seen by party, with 63% of Democrats versus 16% of Republicans now very or moderately worried.

Smaller gaps in concern about hospital care persist by gender and age, with women and adults under 50 more concerned. However, the gap between whites and nonwhites has now shrunk to less than 10 points, while the overall worry for each group increased in the past week after declining since mid-April.

	April 6-12	May 4-10	June 15-21	June 22-28
	%	%	%	%
Gender
Men	57	43	29	38
Women	70	52	39	49
Age
18-29	83	68	47	59
30-49	71	52	41	50
50-64	54	38	24	38
65+	54	42	29	35
Race
White	60	45	31	43
Nonwhite	72	56	45	49
Party identification
Democrat	84	70	53	63
Independent	65	50	35	44
Republican	37	19	14	16
Gallup Panel, 2020

Implications

With news that the coronavirus continues to spread, and as the U.S. hits a record number of new cases, worry about two key aspects of medical care -- hospital treatment and testing -- is increasing again after stabilizing briefly at relative low points in mid-June. This is likely a result of Americans feeling the effects of a virus on a curve that is increasing.

Throughout the pandemic, younger people have expressed more concern about healthcare capacity than older Americans, and that continues to be the case now. This age pattern seems to run contrary to information shared by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), which reports that seniors are the age group at highest risk for severe illness from this disease, along with people who live in a long-term care facility or who have underlying medical conditions.

It is not clear why those who are less likely to become severely ill may worry more about the availability of hospital supplies and treatment. Previous Gallup analysis about this issue suggests political orientation is a strong factor in determining virus-related attitudes and behavior, and it is a likely factor here.

Learn more about how the Gallup Panel works.