American parents worrying less about kids contracting COVID-19: Gallup

Fewer parents report being worried about their child contracting COVID-19 compared to three months ago, according to a new Gallup poll.

The poll found that 45 percent of parents with children aged 18 and younger say they are “very” or “somewhat” worried that their child will be infected with COVID-19, a drop from 53 percent in September. 

However, parents concerned about contracting COVID-19 themselves have stayed about the same at 37 percent, only a three-point drop from where it was in September. 

Gallup noted that vaccination status does not relieve parents’ worry about their child contracting the virus, with 63 percent of parents whose children have been vaccinated report being worried about them being infected, while only 17 percent of parents of unvaccinated children report the same. 

Parents of younger children also report more worry than parents of older ones. The poll found 47 percent of parents of children aged 5 to 11 are worried about their child contracting COVID-19. Comparatively, parents of children aged 12 through 18 hovers between 35 and 28 percent. 

The poll was conducted from Nov. 29- Dec. 5 and surveyed a random sample of 4,034 adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.