Abstract
Italy was the first European country to be affected by COVID-19, facing an unprecedented situation. The reaction required drastic solutions and highly restrictive measures, which severely tested the trust of the Italian people. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of the introduced measures was not only linked to political decisions, but also to the choice of the Italian people to trust and rely on institutions, accepting such necessary measures. In this context, the role of information sources was fundamental, since they strongly influence public opinion. The central focus of this research was to assess the information seeking behavior (ISB) of the Italian citizens, to understand how they related to information and how their specific use of information influenced public opinion. By making use of a survey addressed to 4260 Italian citizens, we identified extraordinarily virtuous behavior in the population: people strongly modified their ISB in order to address the most reliable sources. In particular, we found a very high reliance on scientists, which is particularly striking, if compared to the past. Moreover, starting from the survey results, we used social simulation to estimate the evolution of public opinion. Comparing the ISB during and before COVID-19, we discovered that the shift in the ISB, during the pandemic, may have actually positively influenced public opinion, facilitating the acceptance of the costly restrictions introduced.
Highlights
The COVID-19 outbreak forced the Italian State to deal with a novel, ambiguous, and unexpected risk
We investigated both frequency of use and perceived trustworthiness of various types of information sources in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, to get a better sense of what channels were most influential in affecting participants’ opinions on this topic; in addition, we collected data on the trustworthiness directly assigned to public institutions as information sources
Levels of trust, 17.7% were non-committal, and only 7.3% expressed distrust. These numbers are in sharp contrast, to say the least, with the average institutional trust reported for Italian citizens prior to the COVID-19 crisis
Summary
The COVID-19 outbreak forced the Italian State to deal with a novel, ambiguous, and unexpected risk. The first cases were reported in late February and in a few weeks the pandemic spread rapidly throughout the rest of the country. Politicians, local governments, and citizens had to face an unprecedented situation. The whole scientific community promptly took action to provide all possible support and to help find solutions to save lives and reduce strain on the health care system. An exceptional situation calls for exceptional measures. The reaction to COVID-19 in Italy required drastic solutions and highly restrictive measures [1].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
