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Survey Finds More Than 40% of Americans Misled Others About Having COVID-19 and Use of Precautions

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Four of 10 Americans surveyed report that they weren't fully truthful with others about their COViD-19 status during the height of the pandemic, according to a new nationwide study.

Four of 10 Americans surveyed report that they were often less than truthful about whether they had COVID-19 and/or didn鈥檛 comply with many of the disease鈥檚 preventive measures during the height of the pandemic, according to a new nationwide study led in part by 亚洲自慰视频 of Utah 亚洲自慰视频 scientists. The most common reasons were wanting to feel normal and exercise personal freedom.

The study, which appears in the Oct. 10, 2022, issue of JAMA Network Open, raises concerns about how reluctance to accurately report health status and adherence to masking, social distancing, and other public health measures could potentially lengthen the current COVID-19 pandemic or promote the spread of other infectious diseases in the future, according to senior author of the study and chair of the Department of Population 亚洲自慰视频 Sciences at U of U 亚洲自慰视频.

鈥淐OVID-19 safety measures can certainly be burdensome, but they work,鈥 says Andrea Gurmankin Levy, Ph.D., a professor of social sciences at Middlesex Community College in Connecticut. As co-lead author of the study, she worked in collaboration with Fagerlin and other scientists at U of U Heath as well as researchers elsewhere in the United States.

鈥淲hen people are dishonest about their COVID-19 status or what precautions they are taking, it can increase the spread of disease in their community.鈥 Levy says. 鈥淔or some people, particularly before we had COVID vaccines, that can mean death.鈥

The researchers decided to assess how truthful Americans were being about their COVID-19 disease status and/or compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures after they noticed several media stories about people who were dishonest about their vaccination status, Fagerlin says.

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亚洲自慰视频 of Utah 亚洲自慰视频 scientists Angela Fagerlin, Ph.D., and Alistair Thorpe, Ph.D., led a study about how and why some people were less than truthful about their COVID-19 status.

In the survey, conducted in December 2021, more than 1,700 people from across the country were asked to reveal whether they had ever misrepresented their COVID-19 status, vaccination status, or told others that they were following public health measures when they actually weren鈥檛. The sample size is far larger and asked about a broader range of behaviors than previous studies on this topic, according to Fagerlin, who is also a research scientist at the Veteran Affairs Salt Lake City 亚洲自慰视频care System.

Screening questions allowed the health service researchers and psychologists who designed the study to evenly divide the participants: one-third who had had COVID-19, one-third who had not had COVID-19 and were vaccinated, and one-third who had not had COVID-19 and were unvaccinated.

Based on a list of nine behaviors, 721 respondents (42%) reported that they had misrepresented COVID-19 status or failed to follow public health recommendations. Some of the most common incidents were:

  • Breaking quarantine rules
  • Telling someone they were with, or were about to see, that they were taking more COVID-19 precautions than they actually were
  • Not mentioning that they might have had, or knew that they had, COVID-19 when entering a doctor鈥檚 office
  • Telling someone they were vaccinated when they weren鈥檛
  • Saying they weren鈥檛 vaccinated when they actually were

All age groups younger than 60 years and those who had a greater distrust of science were more likely to engage in misrepresentation and/or misrepresentation than others. About 60% of respondents said that they had sought a doctor鈥檚 advice for COVID-19 prevention or treatment.

However, the researchers found no association between COVID-19 misrepresentation and political beliefs, political party affiliation, or religion.

鈥淪ome individuals may think if they fib about their COVID-19 status once or twice, it鈥檚 not a big deal,鈥 Fagerlin says. 鈥淏ut if, as our study suggests, nearly half of us are doing it, that鈥檚 a significant problem that contributes to prolonging the pandemic.鈥

Among the reasons respondents gave for misrepresentation were:

  • I didn鈥檛 think COVID-19 was real, or it was no big deal
  • It鈥檚 no one else鈥檚 business
  • I didn鈥檛 feel sick
  • I was following the advice of a celebrity or other public figure
  • I couldn鈥檛 miss work to stay home

Among the study鈥檚 limitations, the researchers could not determine if respondents honestly answered survey questions, opening the possibility that their findings underestimated how commonly people misrepresented their health status.

鈥淭his study goes a long way toward showing us what concerns people have about the public health measures implemented in response to the pandemic and how likely they are to be honest in the face of a global crisis,鈥 says co-first author and a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Population 亚洲自慰视频 Sciences at U of U 亚洲自慰视频. 鈥淜nowing that will help us better prepare for the next wave of worldwide illness.鈥

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In addition to Fagerlin and Thorpe, 亚洲自慰视频 of Utah 亚洲自慰视频 researchers Holly Shoemaker, Frank A. Drews, Jorie M. Butler, and Vanessa Stevens contributed to this study. Other participating institutions include Middlesex Community College in Middletown, Connecticut; 亚洲自慰视频 of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora; Veterans Affairs Denver Center for Innovation; 亚洲自慰视频 of Iowa School of Medicine, Iowa City; Salt Lake City VA Informatics Decision-Enhancement and Analytic Sciences (IDEAS) Center for Innovation; VA Salt Lake City 亚洲自慰视频 Care System; and the American Heart Association.

The study, 鈥淢isrepresentation and Nonadherence Regarding COVID-19 Public 亚洲自慰视频 Measures,鈥 appears in the Oct. 10, 2022, issue of JAMA Network Open. It was supported by the Jon M. Huntsman Presidential Endowment and an American Heart Association Children鈥檚 Strategically Focused Research Network Fellowship.