Survey of awareness, attitudes, and compliance with COVID-19 measures among Vermont residents.

Christine Vatovec,John Hanley

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0265014

Abstract

The objective of this research was to examine residents’ awareness, attitudes, and compliance with COVID-19 public health guidelines in Vermont, which emerged as an early leader in national pandemic response. Our methods included conducting an online survey of adult Vermont residents between January and April 2021. We analyzed demographics associated with awareness and compliance, and identified features associated with non-compliance. Our results show that of the 2,208 adult Vermont residents who completed the survey, 90% were extremely aware of the state’s COVID-19 guidelines, and 95% reported knowing exactly what to do to follow recommended actions. Political affiliation emerged as a primary factor related to attitudes and compliance. Self-identified Republicans were less likely to agree that public health measures keep people safe or help businesses stay open, and were less likely to follow masking, quarantine, social distancing, and vaccine guidance than Independents, Progressives, and Democrats. The large differences in COVID-19 infection and death rates across the country, and recent shift toward a "pandemic of the unvaccinated," underscore the need for identifying public health strategies that work in some areas in order to adapt and apply them to areas that have struggled with controlling the virus. Consistent with national surveys, our results show that resistance to public health guidance is a partisan challenge even in states with high compliance. Identifying populations that are less supportive or hesitant to follow guidelines while understanding factors that motivate compliance can help inform strategies for developing targeted programs to encourage collective action on pandemic response. Developing communication strategies that reach people who do not believe COVID-19 guidelines keep them safe is necessary to reach universal compliance.

Highlights

For all three of Vermont’s major political parties (Democrats, Progressives, Republicans) and self-described Independents, we display the percent of respondents who reported that they “Always” took an action, and the percent who reported agreement (“Agree” or “Strongly Agree”) with COVID-19 awareness questions and we present these analyses as dumbbell plots
Variable Gender Female Male Non-binary Race White or Caucasian Black or African American American Indian or Alaska Native Asian, Indian, or Pacific Islander Multiracial Ethnicity Hispanic or Latino/a Not Hispanic or Latino/a Age 18–24 25–34 35–44 45–54 55–64 65–74 75 + Income $100,000 Education Less than high school High school or equivalent Some college or Associate’s degree Bachelor’s degree or higher Political Affiliation Democrat Independent Libertarian Progressive Republican None Affected by COVID-19 Front-line worker, healthcare Front-line worker, other Lost a loved one to COVID-19 Lost job because of COVID-19 Still have job but lost significant income Business owner hurt by COVID-18
We found two instances where the partisan trend was reversed: 1) 38% of Republicans agreed that Vermont’s guidelines cripple the economy compared to 6% of Democrats and 1% of Progressives, and 2) 52% of Republicans reported awareness of Vermont’s enforcement of COVID-19 guidelines compared to 41% of Democrats and 33% of Progressives