scholarly journals Use of Rapid Online Surveys to Assess People's Perceptions During Infectious Disease Outbreaks: A Cross-sectional Survey on COVID-19

10.2196/18790 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. e18790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascal Geldsetzer
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
The United States ◽  
Online Surveys ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Total Household Income

Background Given the extensive time needed to conduct a nationally representative household survey and the commonly low response rate of phone surveys, rapid online surveys may be a promising method to assess and track knowledge and perceptions among the general public during fast-moving infectious disease outbreaks. Objective This study aimed to apply rapid online surveying to determine knowledge and perceptions of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among the general public in the United States and the United Kingdom. Methods An online questionnaire was administered to 3000 adults residing in the United States and 3000 adults residing in the United Kingdom who had registered with Prolific Academic to participate in online research. Prolific Academic established strata by age (18-27, 28-37, 38-47, 48-57, or ≥58 years), sex (male or female), and ethnicity (white, black or African American, Asian or Asian Indian, mixed, or “other”), as well as all permutations of these strata. The number of participants who could enroll in each of these strata was calculated to reflect the distribution in the US and UK general population. Enrollment into the survey within each stratum was on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants completed the questionnaire between February 23 and March 2, 2020. Results A total of 2986 and 2988 adults residing in the United States and the United Kingdom, respectively, completed the questionnaire. Of those, 64.4% (1924/2986) of US participants and 51.5% (1540/2988) of UK participants had a tertiary education degree, 67.5% (2015/2986) of US participants had a total household income between US $20,000 and US $99,999, and 74.4% (2223/2988) of UK participants had a total household income between £15,000 and £74,999. US and UK participants’ median estimate for the probability of a fatal disease course among those infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was 5.0% (IQR 2.0%-15.0%) and 3.0% (IQR 2.0%-10.0%), respectively. Participants generally had good knowledge of the main mode of disease transmission and common symptoms of COVID-19. However, a substantial proportion of participants had misconceptions about how to prevent an infection and the recommended care-seeking behavior. For instance, 37.8% (95% CI 36.1%-39.6%) of US participants and 29.7% (95% CI 28.1%-31.4%) of UK participants thought that wearing a common surgical mask was “highly effective” in protecting them from acquiring COVID-19, and 25.6% (95% CI 24.1%-27.2%) of US participants and 29.6% (95% CI 28.0%-31.3%) of UK participants thought it was prudent to refrain from eating at Chinese restaurants. Around half (53.8%, 95% CI 52.1%-55.6%) of US participants and 39.1% (95% CI 37.4%-40.9%) of UK participants thought that children were at an especially high risk of death when infected with SARS-CoV-2. Conclusions The distribution of participants by total household income and education followed approximately that of the US and UK general population. The findings from this online survey could guide information campaigns by public health authorities, clinicians, and the media. More broadly, rapid online surveys could be an important tool in tracking the public’s knowledge and misperceptions during rapidly moving infectious disease outbreaks.

scholarly journals Use of Rapid Online Surveys to Assess People's Perceptions During Infectious Disease Outbreaks: A Cross-sectional Survey on COVID-19 (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascal Geldsetzer
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
The United States ◽  
Online Surveys ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Total Household Income

BACKGROUND Given the extensive time needed to conduct a nationally representative household survey and the commonly low response rate of phone surveys, rapid online surveys may be a promising method to assess and track knowledge and perceptions among the general public during fast-moving infectious disease outbreaks. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to apply rapid online surveying to determine knowledge and perceptions of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among the general public in the United States and the United Kingdom. METHODS An online questionnaire was administered to 3000 adults residing in the United States and 3000 adults residing in the United Kingdom who had registered with Prolific Academic to participate in online research. Prolific Academic established strata by age (18-27, 28-37, 38-47, 48-57, or ≥58 years), sex (male or female), and ethnicity (white, black or African American, Asian or Asian Indian, mixed, or “other”), as well as all permutations of these strata. The number of participants who could enroll in each of these strata was calculated to reflect the distribution in the US and UK general population. Enrollment into the survey within each stratum was on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants completed the questionnaire between February 23 and March 2, 2020. RESULTS A total of 2986 and 2988 adults residing in the United States and the United Kingdom, respectively, completed the questionnaire. Of those, 64.4% (1924/2986) of US participants and 51.5% (1540/2988) of UK participants had a tertiary education degree, 67.5% (2015/2986) of US participants had a total household income between US $20,000 and US $99,999, and 74.4% (2223/2988) of UK participants had a total household income between £15,000 and £74,999. US and UK participants’ median estimate for the probability of a fatal disease course among those infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was 5.0% (IQR 2.0%-15.0%) and 3.0% (IQR 2.0%-10.0%), respectively. Participants generally had good knowledge of the main mode of disease transmission and common symptoms of COVID-19. However, a substantial proportion of participants had misconceptions about how to prevent an infection and the recommended care-seeking behavior. For instance, 37.8% (95% CI 36.1%-39.6%) of US participants and 29.7% (95% CI 28.1%-31.4%) of UK participants thought that wearing a common surgical mask was “highly effective” in protecting them from acquiring COVID-19, and 25.6% (95% CI 24.1%-27.2%) of US participants and 29.6% (95% CI 28.0%-31.3%) of UK participants thought it was prudent to refrain from eating at Chinese restaurants. Around half (53.8%, 95% CI 52.1%-55.6%) of US participants and 39.1% (95% CI 37.4%-40.9%) of UK participants thought that children were at an especially high risk of death when infected with SARS-CoV-2. CONCLUSIONS The distribution of participants by total household income and education followed approximately that of the US and UK general population. The findings from this online survey could guide information campaigns by public health authorities, clinicians, and the media. More broadly, rapid online surveys could be an important tool in tracking the public’s knowledge and misperceptions during rapidly moving infectious disease outbreaks.

scholarly journals Using rapid online surveys to assess perceptions during infectious disease outbreaks: a cross-sectional survey on Covid-19 among the general public in the United States and United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascal Geldsetzer
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Household Income ◽  
General Public ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
The United States ◽  
Online Surveys ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
The Us ◽  
Total Household Income ◽  
The Uk

AbstractBackgroundGiven the extensive time needed to conduct a nationally representative household survey and the commonly low response rate in phone surveys, rapid online surveys may be a promising method to assess and track knowledge and perceptions among the general public during fast-moving infectious disease outbreaks.ObjectiveTo apply rapid online surveying to determine knowledge and perceptions of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) among the general public in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK).MethodsAn online questionnaire was administered to 3,000 adults residing in the US and 3,000 adults residing in the UK who had registered with Prolific Academic to participate in online research. Strata by age (18 - 27, 28 - 37, 38 - 47, 48 - 57, or ≥58 years), sex (male or female), and ethnicity (White, Black or African American, Asian or Asian Indian, Mixed, or “Other”), and all permutations of these strata, were established. The number of participants who could enrol in each of these strata was calculated to reflect the distribution in the US and UK general population. Enrolment into the survey within the strata was on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants completed the questionnaire between February 23 and March 2 2020.Results2,986 and 2,988 adults residing in the US and the UK, respectively, completed the questionnaire. 64.4% (1,924/2,986) of US and 51.5% (1,540/2,988) of UK participants had a tertiary education degree. 67.5% (2,015/2,986) of US participants had a total household income between $20,000 and $99,999, and 74.4% (2,223/2,988) of UK participants had a total household income between £15,000 and £74,999. US and UK participants’ median estimate for the probability of a fatal disease course among those infected with SARS-CoV-2 was 5.0% (IQR: 2.0% – 15.0%) and 3.0% (IQR: 2.0% – 10.0%), respectively. Participants generally had good knowledge of the main mode of disease transmission and common symptoms of Covid-19. However, a substantial proportion of participants had misconceptions about how to prevent an infection and the recommended care-seeking behavior. For instance, 37.8% (95% CI: 36.1% – 39.6%) of US and 29.7% (95% CI: 28.1% – 31.4%) of UK participants thought that wearing a common surgical mask was ‘highly effective’ in protecting them from acquiring Covid-19. 25.6% (95% CI: 24.1% – 27.2%) of US and 29.6% (95% CI: 28.0% – 31.3%) of UK participants thought it prudent to refrain from eating at Chinese restaurants. Around half (53.8% [95% CI: 52.1% – 55.6%] of US and 39.1% [95% CI: 37.4% –40.9%] of UK participants) thought that children were at an especially high risk of death when infected with SARS-CoV-2.ConclusionsThe distribution of participants by total household income and education followed approximately that of the general population. The findings from this online survey could guide information campaigns by public health authorities, clinicians, and the media. More broadly, rapid online surveys could be an important tool in tracking the public’s knowledge and misperceptions during rapidly moving infectious disease outbreaks.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Vaccination and Herd Immunity

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 179-184
Author(s):  
Hyun Kyun Ki
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Genetic Variants ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Major Barrier ◽  
The United Kingdom

Vaccination has been used for the prevention and eradication of communicable diseases such as smallpox, polio, and measles. Herd immunity and immunity threshold have already been conceptualized for the prevention of outbreaks and pandemicity of these diseases. Coronavirus infectious disease-19 (COVID-19) is the second pandemic coronavirus disease of the 21st century. Vaccination has been conducted since December 2020 in an attempt to control the pandemic. The morbidity and incidence of COVID-19 has decreased since the initiation of the vaccination program within Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States. However, irregular vaccine rollout and uneven distribution of vaccine is a major barrier to vaccine access. Moreover, genetic variants of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2) could be a barrier to immunity.

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