GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- The latest Gallup Poll finds about a third of Americans worried that someone in their family will be exposed to severe acute respiratory syndrome, known as SARS, but only 10% are "very worried." This level of concern is lower than that expressed about the West Nile virus last September, when over half of the public was worried about that disease, including 15% who were very worried. More than seven in 10 Americans are following news about the SARS disease, and the more attentive people are to the issue the higher their level of concern.
The poll, conducted April 14-16, finds 32% of Americans either very or somewhat worried that someone in their family will be exposed to SARS, while 43% are not too worried, and 24% are not worried at all. Concern has declined slightly from 10 days earlier, when 37% said they were very or somewhat worried.
| Worry About Exposure to SARS |
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The latest news suggests that the disease is likely to plague humanity indefinitely. A scientific consensus appears to have emerged that because SARS has become entrenched in many locations, the window for eradicating it has probably closed. No consensus has yet been reached as to how great of a global health problem the disease might yet become. Last Saturday, the World Health Organization said that more than 3,500 cases had been reported in 25 nations, resulting in 182 deaths.
News about SARS appears to be a relatively salient issue to the American public, as 76% of Americans say they have followed news about the disease either very (31%) or somewhat closely (45%). Among all news events measured by Gallup over the past dozen years, this one ranks in the upper fifth in salience.
| How Closely Have You Been Following the News About SARS? |
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| Apr 14-16, 2003 |
The more closely people follow the issue the more concerned they are about exposure to the disease. Among Americans who say they have followed the issue "very" closely, 50% are worried about exposure, compared with just 27% who have followed the issue "somewhat" closely, and only 18% who have not followed it closely.
| Worry About SARS Compared by How Closely People are Following the Issue % Very or Somewhat Worried About Exposure to SARS |
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| Apr 14-16, 2003 |
Americans have reacted with considerably lower concern about SARS than about the West Nile virus, which spread across the country last year. In September 2002, a Gallup Poll found 53% of Americans saying they were very or somewhat worried about that virus, 21 percentage points higher than the percentage worried about SARS.
One reason for the lower concern about SARS is that no Americans have yet died from it, and the number of reported cases -- depending on the definition used by medical authorities -- may be as low as 30 or as high as a couple of hundred. In contrast, last year the United States experienced the largest epidemic of the West Nile virus anywhere in the world. More than 4,000 Americans were infected, and almost 300 people died.
Survey Methods
Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,011 national adults, aged 18+, conducted April 14-16, 2003. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
As you may know, people in several countries in Asia and Canada have recently died from a new disease known as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.
How closely have you been following the news about SARS -- very closely, somewhat closely, not too closely, or not at all?
|
Very |
Somewhat closely |
Not too closely |
|
No |
|
|
2003 Apr 14-16 |
31% |
45 |
17 |
7 |
-- |
How worried are you that you or someone in your family will be exposed to SARS -- very worried, somewhat worried, not too worried, or not worried at all?
|
|
|
|
Not |
EXPOSED ALREADY (vol.) |
|
|
|
2003 Apr 14-16 |
10% |
22 |
43 |
24 |
-- |
1 |
|
2003 Apr 5-6 |
10% |
27 |
39 |
24 |
-- |
* |
(vol.) – Volunteered response
* -- Less than 0.5%
