Over a third of American adults are worried that they or someone in their family will get the seasonal flu, COVID-19, or RSV in the next three months, according to a new health survey.

Those three viral illnesses made up the “ tripledemic ” of respiratory illnesses that overwhelmed some health care facilities last winter. Although RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) typically peaks later in the year, this month hospitals in parts of Texas are already seeing emergency rooms filled with children.

RSV is a common respiratory virus that often causes mild, cold-like symptoms but can be serious and require hospitalization among infants and older adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

There’s no consensus among US adults about which virus is more likely to cause severe illness: 22% say COVID-19; 13% say RSV; 7% say seasonal flu; and 41% say they are equally likely to cause severe illness. Sixteen percent are not sure, according to the survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania.

The Annenberg Science and Public Health Knowledge (ASAPH) survey , which took place October 5-12, 2023, with a panel of over 1,500 US adults, finds that Americans generally are more knowledgeable about RSV today than earlier this year. Over the spring and summer, health authorities approved new vaccines against RSV specifically for adults ages 60 and older and for pregnant people to protect their newborns.

Key findings

RSV concern: 35% worry that they or someone in their family will get RSV in the next three months, up from 32% in January 2023. About two-thirds (65%) are not worried.

COVID-19 concern: 35% are worried that they or someone in their family will get COVID-19 in the next three months, up from 21% in August 2023 but similar to last winter (36% in January 2023). About two-thirds (65%) are not worried.

Flu concern: 39% are worried that they or someone in their family will contract the seasonal flu in the next three months, statistically unchanged from January 2023. Six in 10 people (61%) are not worried.

Complications: Nearly 1 in 3 people (31%) say they personally know someone who believes they are suffering long-term health complications as a result of getting infected with COVID-19. One in 6 (17%) say they personally know someone who believes they are suffering long-term health complications as a result of getting infected with COVID-19.

Fewer say they’ve had a flu shot: At the time the survey was fielded (October 5-12, 2023), 21% said they had received the flu shot this season, compared with 26% in mid-October 2022 and 38% in the second week of November 2021.

“Because getting a flu shot yearly not only helps to protect us from serious infection but also predicts our acceptance of other CDC-recommended vaccines, the drop in reported flu vaccination we see reflected in our panel is worrisome,” says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center and director of the survey.

The survey data come from the 13th wave of a nationally representative panel of 1,559 US adults, first empaneled in April 2021, conducted for the Annenberg Public Policy Center by SSRS an independent market research company. This wave of the Annenberg Science and Public Health Knowledge (ASAPH) survey was fielded October 5 to 12, 2023, and has a margin of sampling error (MOE) of ± 3.4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All figures are rounded to the nearest whole number and may not add to 100%. Combined subcategories may not add to totals in the topline and text due to rounding.

Source: Penn

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