--- title: New COVID-19 Variants Don't Worry Americans: Pew Study description: A new survey from Pew Research Center found that 69% of Americans believe new COVID-19 variants won’t have a major impact on the U.S. canonical: https://time.com/6219580/new-covid-19-variants-concern-pew-survey/ author: Tara Law article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-10-05T14:00:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:40:28.711Z article:section: Health og:title: Americans Aren't Worried About New COVID-19 Variants: Pew og:description: A new survey from Pew Research Center found that 69% of Americans believe new COVID-19 variants won’t have a major impact og:url: https://time.com/6219580/new-covid-19-variants-concern-pew-survey/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1c55fc6ca196b58/698a3636db2987b607268439/COVID-19-Test.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 8660 og:image:height: 4871 og:image:alt: covid-19-rapid-test og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Americans Aren't Worried About New COVID-19 Variants: Pew twitter:description: A new survey from Pew Research Center found that 69% of Americans believe new COVID-19 variants won’t have a major impact twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1c55fc6ca196b58/698a3636db2987b607268439/COVID-19-Test.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Scientists Are Worried About New COVID-19 Variants—But Most Americans Aren't > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=d06a0491-2bcc-4d8c-b79e-d66b30d51c26&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Human Waste Could Help the Fight Against Future Infectious Disease Outbreaks [Watch (HLS stream): Human Waste Could Help the Fight Against Future Infectious Disease Outbreaks](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4tX9TcVw.m3u8) (9:04)  _Published 2022-09-23. Wastewater surveillance uses local sewer systems to measure the health of the population and can be especially useful to detect infectious diseases that can be asymptomatic. The practice is currently being used to combat COVID-19 and could be a useful tool to fight Monkeypox and the resurgence of polio._  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Oct 5, 2022 2:00 PM UTC Wastewater surveillance uses local sewer systems to measure the health of the population and can be especially useful to detect infectious diseases that can be asymptomatic. The practice is currently being used to combat COVID-19 and could be a useful tool to fight Monkeypox and the resurgence of polio.  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Oct 5, 2022 2:00 PM UTC Scientists are [warning](https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/monkeypox--covid-19---other-global-health-issues-virtual-press-conference---22-september-2022) that ever more [dangerous forms](https://time.com/6216760/ba-2-75-2-centaurus-omicron-variant-vaccine/) of SARS-CoV-2 continue to emerge and threaten to drive potential surges in the coming months. On Oct. 4, White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci [said](https://centerforhealthjournalism.org/content/covid-monkeypox-conversation-dr-anthony-fauci) that as we head into the winter months, “We should anticipate that we very well may get another variant that would emerge that would elude the immune response that we’ve gotten from infection and/or from vaccination.” A Pew Research Center [survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2022/10/05/lack-of-preparedness-among-top-reactions-americans-have-to-public-health-officials-covid-19-response/) published on Oct. 5 polled nearly 11,000 American adults from Sept. 13 to 18 and found that 69% of Americans believe new variants won’t have a major impact on the U.S.’s ability to contain the disease. Just 29% said a new variant will be a big setback to the U.S. At this point in the pandemic, Americans also aren’t that worried about the individual risks that COVID-19 poses to them. Only 30% of people overall said that they were very or somewhat concerned about being hospitalized from COVID-19\. However, people of color were more likely to be worried: 47% of Black Americans and 49% of Hispanics said they were very or somewhat concerned about COVID-19-related hospitalizations, compared to 22% of white Americans. And while being unvaccinated greatly increases the risk of becoming seriously ill from the disease, just 20% of unvaccinated people were concerned about hospitalization, compared to 33% of vaccinated people. **Read More**: [_The Pandemic Changed Paid Sick Leave Policies, But Not For Everyone_](https://time.com/6217476/paid-sick-leave-changes-since-pandemic/) Respondents were somewhat more likely to worry about accidentally passing the virus on to someone else; about 49% saying they were somewhat or very concerned. Again, vaccinated people were more likely to be worried about infecting someone else, with 55% saying they were at least somewhat concerned, compared to 29% of unvaccinated people. The vast majority of Americans still have not received the new [Omicron booster](https://time.com/6215491/omicron-booster-if-had-covid-19/) shot, even though the updated vaccine likely provides the [best protection](https://time.com/6215580/original-vaccines-effectiveness-against-omicron/) against the currently circulating BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. The Pew survey found that only about 4% of Americans have received an updated booster, and 44% say that they plan to get it. Among those who are vaccinated with the primary series, 68% said that they would probably get an updated vaccine booster or had already received it, but 32% said they would probably not get the booster. Meanwhile, 21% of respondents overall said they were unvaccinated. If more Americans fail to get the booster, the nation could miss an opportunity to save thousands of lives. According to Oct. 5 [research](https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2022/fall-covid-19-booster-campaign-could-save-thousands-lives-billions-dollars) by the Commonwealth Fund, if 80% of eligible people in the U.S. were to get the booster, about 90,000 deaths could be prevented, as well as nearly 937,000 hospitalizations. A successful booster campaign would also have big cost savings: an estimated $56.27 billion in medical spending could be averted, including $13.47 billion in Medicare spending. ## Transcript I've been covering covid-19 for two and a half years now. And one of the things that's really surprised me is how Wastewater surveillance is one of the more powerful tools that is emerge for tracking disease Wastewater surveillance, it's like spying on Wastewater which is exactly what it is. Which water is of course, what you get when you flush the toilet, it's equal parts, icky and cutting-edge science. But if you think about it, the waste that we flush the saliva, we spit out, when we brush our teeth and the water that drains for my shower is a rich source of information about our Collective health. First reaction is gross, disgusting, ecology at Queens College in New York. His lap collect Wastewater from around the city. It's really not that bad. It doesn't really smell very bad. We bring it back to the laboratory and we pasteurize it before we even open the bottle of comes in. Sheriff. It's not a dangerous river. Dirty or smell your people think about keeping their genetic material intact black. The toilet that goes into the system where wind up at is she would treatment plant. Facilities, collect Wastewater from entire communities. They are a good barometer of what viruses or bacteria might be circulating in those populations. And researchers can detect these pathogens even if people are not going to get tested at doctors offices or hospitals. But for example, there are eight million people in New York city. So it's useful to have a more precise way to measure who is sick and where we the pill with a device or the way to the bottom, this device has space for 24 hours and then tomorrow we will bring it out emissions. The health of the population that is using this sewer system Monica, Trujillo works in the same lab with John Dennehy, but she's collecting Wastewater on a more local level from the sewers in neighborhoods rather than in treatment plants. You have to say that. First of all, you are looking at the contribution of a complete different number, right? If you look at the wastewater treatment plant, you have everybody who lives that day on the southern part of Brooklyn. If you are looking at the hospital, like, Coney Island, right? You will be looking at the people that use the toilet in the Hat solution that you get the ability to cover a huge number of people for the creases, if you are looking at, you know, a smaller Gathering Using Wastewater to monitor for infectious diseases isn't actually knew it goes back to the 1940s. When epidemiologist, use the method to track and contain polio outbreaks in the United States, when officials saw polio spiking and waste water, they were able to boost vaccination responses in those areas. There is hope that the supply will be sufficient to vaccinate 61 million children by the end of the year Brave, Little Pioneers each, and everyone who took the shots Wastewater surveillance has also been utilized to track drug use which shows up in urine. That can help to mitigate the effects of something like the opioid epidemic, but it didn't really seem like Wastewater was getting the attention. It deserves until covid-19 making decisions about where to set up vaccination clinics how to keep schools open, When to require masking, all of that relied on knowing where outbreaks were happening, it's a nice truck 2020 Chevy have automatic sampler set up at multiple buildings and Solis Angeles and basically just sitting there collecting samples over the course of 24 hours, early adopters of expanded surveillance and as a pandemic dragged on and people turn to at home, swapping there was no way for public health officials to document spikes or even new variants Wastewater became an even more important early warning system. There have been instances where the same response to an important cases and declining concentrations of the virus and the Wastewater masking policies have been modified individuals testing A small study published in Jama Network, open shows that more than half of people. Infected with the Omicron Burien are not aware of their infection. The Wastewater surveillance could become an increasingly important way for communities to stay on top of cases. There are now sewage treatment plant surveillance programs in several States including in New York, California, Florida, Texas, and Illinois a bonus to this kind of data is that researchers can look for specific genetic sequences of viruses bacteria and other pathogens. That means they can also track any mutations or variance in the virus as well. Information, that helps determine whether existing vaccines and treatments will still work for the City of Houston in Texas. Use Wastewater to deploy their resources so they will look up Wastewater. They would see in this neighborhood. It seems like the numbers are going up. So what did they do say to everybody? Like the people who do vaccines, the people who are the, people who have connect to see the community and they try to emphasize that uses the masks people who were not vaccinated, try to convince them to be vaccinated. So it is a useful tool to try to meet gate. The effect of something that you know, it's going to happen. That is that the numbers are going up and of course, covid-19 is not the only disease. We have to worry about recently polio is discovered Again by a Wastewater in New York state. Last had a case of paralytic polio diagnosed in 1990. How about in June of this year? If a young adult was diagnosed with polio in Rockland County. Time, we look back at our Wastewater samples and we've identified a related virus in Santa Beginning in March, right up through July, monkeypox is also increasingly being tracked. This way I New York state city and also confirmed us three 679 cases. 639 of which are in New York City. Research has a Wastewater surveillance be beneficial and helping them to understand antibiotic-resistant. Pathogens that reduce the ability of the human body to fight disease. It could also be used to detect new strains of the flu before it affects the majority of the population and help in the development of effective vaccine. The list just goes on and on money and effort and time has been spent developing Wastewater as a source of Public Health. Information continues to be financially supported Republic. Private Foundation. It would be a shame if we were to lose these capabilities and then back to write about it, I think that it is going to other initiatives, and I think it is, if you think about the ability of sequencing, the human genome was absolutely can do it Wastewater. 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