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As more COVID-19 cases pop up across the United States, Americans are divided in their apprehension about the health and financial implications of the epidemic. Based on the Bain and Dynata Consumer Health Index survey, conducted March 2 to March 6, middle-income households are the least worried: 58% anticipate a low financial impact and 64% anticipate a low health impact. Upper-income Americans are the most unsettled, with 57% expecting to take a financial hit and 50% expecting negative health effects.
While more people are convinced that they will see a financial impact vs. a health impact, a majority have taken some health-related precaution, from avoiding public gatherings to canceling travel plans. At the same time, only 7% of those surveyed have changed their financial holdings in the past week. The downward pressure on the market hasn’t come into full force from ordinary households changing their behavior. Yet if stocks continue to take a beating, we anticipate that households across all income levels will become increasingly uneasy about finances.
Few Americans Are Highly Concerned about Coronavirus
As of last week, many in the US expected at least some negative health or financial effects from the outbreak, but only about one-fifth were highly worried.
Most at Risk, Older Americans Least Worried about Coronavirus
Younger Americans are taking the threat to their health and finances much more seriously than older generations.
Coronavirus
The global Covid-19 pandemic has extracted a terrible human toll and spurred sweeping changes in the world economy. Across industries, executives have begun reassessing their strategies and repositioning their companies to thrive now and in the world beyond coronavirus.
Karen Harris is managing director of Bain & Company's Macro Trends Group and is based in the firm's New York office.
Dynata provides first-party data for the Bain Consumer Health Index, and provides a nationally representative sample of US adults (weekly) that provided the underlying data for this analysis.
Published in March 2020