A new poll reveals that tens of millions of Americans have a fundamental misunderstanding of the risks associated with monkeypox and how it spreads.
Americans have a similar level of concern about monkeypox as they do COVID-19, according to the new poll from Innerbody Research shared with the Daily Caller, and are taking some similar actions to avoid transmission. But the virus is less contagious than COVID-19, less deadly, and has spread almost exclusively among gay and bisexual men.
Monkeypox declining because community where outbreak gained first foothold (MSM) has broad awareness, took steps to avoid infection, sought vaccination. Risk now is virus has spread outside MSM community but CDC continued focus on MSM leaves wider population unaware of same risks https://t.co/T5u5Y0TDHx
— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) August 27, 2022
The survey found that 39% of Americans believe monkeypox is “exclusively” an STD. While the overwhelming majority of cases have occurred in gay and bisexual men and are linked to sexual transmission, sexual contact is not the only way it has spread in some cases. Emerging evidence does indicate that the virus is primarily transmitted sexually and scientists are debating whether or not to classify it as an STD formally.
Perhaps better evidence that the public is misinformed is that the poll found 34% of respondents said they are avoiding shared, enclosed spaces due to monkeypox. Monkeypox is nor an airborne virus, so there’s no reason to believe avoid enclosed spaces would protect someone against infection, unlike COVID-19.
More than half of Americans said they plan to get the monkeypox vaccine. But supply is incredibly limited, and the Biden administration is directing that supply almost exclusively to gay and bisexual men and people who work at sex clubs or other high-risk environments, a group that doesn’t remotely approach half the population.
One-quarter of Americans said they are more afraid of catching monkeypox than COVID-19, even though it is less contagious and less dangerous. Twenty-three percent said they were equally concerned about both.
The poll sampled 1,000 Americans, 70% of whom were straight and about half women. (RELATED: CDC Applauds Gay Men For Being Less Promiscuous To Avoid Monkeypox)
Major media outlets in the U.S. have repeatedly failed to clarify that monkeypox spreads almost exclusively through sex between gay men and that it isn’t airborne. CNN, for instance, ran a segment emphasizing the fact that the virus isn’t technically an STD, at least as of now. The segment also suggested that stigma against the LGBT community is the real threat.
The New York Times ran two pieces with misleading content about the virus. One suggested that kids should wear masks to protect themselves from monkeypox at school. The paper also called into question the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) dismissing the risk of airborne transmission of the virus. The Huffington Post similarly muddied the waters on the airborne question.
So far, monkeypox has infected nearly 19,000 Americans, according to the CDC. But experts think a peak could be coming soon before a regression, and the virus has yet to kill anyone in the U.S.