Even before the omicron variant rattled markets and health officials, Americans were still citing COVID-19 as the most urgent health issue facing the country, a new Gallup poll published Nov. 30 shows.
The recent poll was conducted in the first half of November and surveyed 815 adults across all 50 states.
The results revealed that 47 percent of respondents cited viruses as the nation's top health problem, 45 percent mentioning COVID-19 specifically. In the same survey from 2020, 69 percent of respondents saw viruses as a top threat. So, although concerns about the virus are waning among the public, they are still dominating minds.
Worries about access to healthcare have increased since last year, with 11 percent of respondents claiming it as the top health issue, up from 4 percent in 2020 but down from 22 percent in 2018. Nine percent of respondents also said the cost of healthcare was the most urgent health issue facing the country.
Obesity and cancer were cited as top issues by 5 percent and 3 percent of people, respectively.