Abstract
Non-adherence to COVID-19 guidelines may be attributable to low levels of worry. This study assessed whether endorsing COVID-19-stigmatizing restrictions, COVID-19 knowledge, and preferred news source were associated with being ‘very worried’ versus ‘not at all’ or ‘somewhat’ worried about contracting COVID-19. Survey data were collected in July–August 2020 from N = 547 New York State (NYS) and N = 504 national Amazon MTurk workers. Respondents who endorsed COVID-19 stigmatizing restrictions (NYS OR 1.96; 95% CI 1.31, 2.92; national OR 1.80; 95% CI 1.06, 3.08) and consumed commercial news (NYS OR 1.89; 95% CI 1.21, 2.96; national OR 1.93; 95% CI 1.24, 3.00) were more likely to be very worried. National respondents who consumed The New York Times (OR 1.52; 95% CI 1.00, 2.29) were more likely to be very worried, while those with little knowledge (OR 0.24; 95% CI 0.13, 0.43) were less likely to be very worried. NYS (OR 2.66; 95% CI 1.77, 4.00) and national (OR 3.17; 95% CI 1.95, 5.16) respondents with probable depression were also more likely to be very worried. These characteristics can help identify those requiring intervention to maximize perceived threat to COVID-19 and encourage uptake of protective behaviors while protecting psychological wellbeing.
Highlights
The outset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was characterized by a climate of widespread fear, worry, and uncertainty
Considering the political divisiveness and the normalization of disinformation throughout the pandemic, we focused on whether the endorsement of COVID-19 stigmatizing restrictions, preferred news source, and COVID-19 knowledge were related to whether respondents expressed being very worried about contracting the virus
Of note was the substantial overall prevalence of worry in both samples; we found that 36% of New York State respondents and 45% of national respondents were very worried about COVID-19
Summary
The outset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was characterized by a climate of widespread fear, worry, and uncertainty. Over 50% of COVID-19 cases are contracted through presymptomatic and asymptomatic transmission, which further exacerbated levels of widespread panic and distrust of others [1]. Several segments of the population, have refused to adhere to these guidelines, oftentimes belligerently [2,3]. Their choosing not to do so arises from a confluence of multi-level factors [4,5,6,7], but likely stems, at least in part, from their not being worried about contracting COVID-19.
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