Geographic social inequalities in information-seeking response to the COVID-19 pandemic in China: longitudinal analysis of Baidu Index

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic alarmed the public and initiated the uptake of preventive measures. However, the manner in which the public responded to these announcements, and whether individuals from different provinces responded similarly during the COVID-19 pandemic in China, remains largely unknown. We used an interrupted time-series analysis to examine the change in Baidu Search Index of selected COVID-19 related terms associated with the COVID-19 derived exposure variables. We analyzed the daily search index in Mainland China using segmented log-normal regressions with data from Jan 2017 to Mar 2021. In this longitudinal study of nearly one billion internet users, we found synchronous increases in COVID-19 related searches during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent local outbreaks, irrespective of the location and severity of each outbreak. The most precipitous increase occurred in the week when most provinces activated their highest level of response to public health emergencies. Search interests increased more as Human Development Index (HDI) -an area level measure of socioeconomic status—increased. Searches on the index began to decline nationwide after the initiation of mass-scale lockdowns, but statistically significant increases continued to occur in conjunction with the report of major sporadic local outbreaks. The intense interest in COVID-19 related information at virtually the same time across different provinces indicates that the Chinese government utilizes multiple channels to keep the public informed of the pandemic. Regional socioeconomic status influenced search patterns.