Americans now less worried about catching coronavirus at doctor offices, poll says

Americans are less concerned about exposure to coronavirus while visiting doctors’ offices or hospitals, according to a new poll.

A Gallup poll released Monday found 22% of U.S. adults said they were “very concerned” about getting COVID-19 during a doctor’s visit, down from 44% in a previous Gallup poll conducted in late March/early April.

The number of Americans who are “moderately concerned” about coronavirus exposure increased slightly from 40% to 42%, according to the latest poll conducted May 14-24 from a Gallup Panel survey. The percentage of adults who aren’t concerned more doubled from 16% to 37%.

Men are less concerned about coronavirus exposure at doctors’ offices than women, with 55% of men saying they were worried compared to 70% of women.

Republicans are also less likely to be concerned than Democrats, with 42% and 80% saying they were concerned, respectively.

Doctors have previously said they’re seeing fewer patients in emergency rooms for life-threatening conditions, including heart attacks, possibly due to the fear of getting infected with the coronavirus.

Dr. Comilla Sasson, an emergency medicine physician in Denver, told NBC News that she told a patient who was experiencing heart attack symptoms to go to the hospital. The patient told her, “I would rather die than risk getting coronavirus right now.”

Harlan M. Krumholz, who works at Yale New Haven Hospital, told The New York Times in early April that she and fellow cardiologists were having fewer patient consultations.

A Twitter poll showed that nearly half of respondents from a community of cardiologists said they were seeing 40% to 60% fewer patients admit to having heart attacks, according to the Times.

There are more than 1.7 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. as of June 1, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 104,000 people have died in the U.S.

This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 11:45 AM with the headline "Americans now less worried about catching coronavirus at doctor offices, poll says."