Are Americans still concerned about the health implications of COVID-19? A new Pew Research Center survey finds that just 20 percent of Americans view the coronavirus as a major threat to the health of the U.S. population today, and only 10 percent are very concerned they will get it and require hospitalization. This data represents a low ebb of public concern about the virus that reached its height in the summer and fall of 2020, when as many as two-thirds of Americans viewed COVID-19 as a major threat to public health.

The survey revealed that just 28 percent of U.S. adults say they have received the updated COVID-19 vaccine, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended last fall to protect against serious illness. This stands in stark contrast to the spring and summer of 2021, when long lines and limited availability characterized the initial rollout of the first COVID-19 vaccines. A majority of U.S. adults (69 percent) had been fully vaccinated by August of 2021.

Underscoring the limited demand for the updated COVID-19 vaccines, a larger share of U.S. adults say they’ve gotten a flu shot in the last six months rather than the updated coronavirus vaccine (44 percent versus 28 percent). And despite a public health push encouraging adults to get both vaccines at the same time, almost half of those who received a flu shot from a health care provider chose not to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine.

The vast majority of Americans have some level of protection from the coronavirus because of vaccination, prior infection or a combination of the two. This has led to a decline in severe illness from the disease.

Still, the virus continues to circulate widely in the U.S., with wastewater data suggesting that cases in the early part of 2024 were among the highest they have been since the first omicron wave in 2022.  

Long COVID ranks among the concerns of public health experts. Long COVID refers to a variety of symptoms such as fatigue and brain fog that last longer than a month after a COVID-19 infection.

The survey also found that 50 percent of Americans say it is extremely or very important for medical researchers and health care providers to understand and treat long COVID; 27 percent see this as a less important issue and 22 percent of Americans say they haven’t heard of long COVID.