90-Second Read: Utahns concerned about Hantavirus outbreak: Poll

News of a deadly Hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship has amped up general anxiety about Hantavirus and how it spreads. Nearly 6 in 10 of the Utah adults polled say they are at least somewhat concerned about the current Hantavirus outbreak. The poll asked, "How concerned are you, if at all, about the current Hantavirus outbreak?" Just 17% said they were "very concerned," but another 39% said "somewhat concerned," raising the number with some degree of worry to 56%. And a new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll conducted by Morning Consult shows that though the outbreak was thousands of miles away, the aftermath has raised concerns among Utahns.

Hantavirus is most often transmitted to humans who come in contact with droppings from an infected rodent. There are different strains caused by different orthohantaviruses, of which the Andes strain is just one. People are generally at greater risk of contracting a Hantavirus disease when they clean out sheds or garages and improperly handle the droppings of infected rodents. Those 65 and older said they were very concerned in larger numbers, at 22%.

One-fourth responded "not too concerned," and another 17% said "not at all concerned," mirroring the number for the most concerned group. In the poll, slightly more men (18%) were very concerned, compared to women (15%). NBC News reported that the greatest risk of symptoms comes in the first three weeks of the incubation, which will end May 31. But people can get sick and even die from exposure to other strains of Hantavirus if they aren't careful when around rodent droppings.

The group with the highest "not at all concerned" response rate were those 35 to 44, at 21%. Based on income, just over half of those with incomes between $50,000 and $100,000 were concerned, while numbers were 6 to 7 percentage points higher for those with incomes below or above that range. The biggest gap in terms of how many are at least somewhat concerned could be found between those in urban, rural and suburban communities.