Public Risk Perception Research Articles

Public risk perception and emotion on Twitter during the Covid-19 pandemic

Successful navigation of the Covid-19 pandemic is predicated on public cooperation with safety measures and appropriate perception of risk, in which emotion and attention play important roles. Signatures of public emotion and attention are present in social media data, thus natural language analysis of this text enables near-to-real-time monitoring of indicators of public risk perception. We compare key epidemiological indicators of the progression of the pandemic with indicators of the public perception of the pandemic constructed from sim 20 million unique Covid-19-related tweets from 12 countries posted between 10th March and 14th June 2020. We find evidence of psychophysical numbing: Twitter users increasingly fixate on mortality, but in a decreasingly emotional and increasingly analytic tone. Semantic network analysis based on word co-occurrences reveals changes in the emotional framing of Covid-19 casualties that are consistent with this hypothesis. We also find that the average attention afforded to national Covid-19 mortality rates is modelled accurately with the Weber–Fechner and power law functions of sensory perception. Our parameter estimates for these models are consistent with estimates from psychological experiments, and indicate that users in this dataset exhibit differential sensitivity by country to the national Covid-19 death rates. Our work illustrates the potential utility of social media for monitoring public risk perception and guiding public communication during crisis scenarios.

Public perceptions of multiple risks during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy and Sweden

Knowing how people perceive multiple risks is essential to the management and promotion of public health and safety. Here we present a dataset based on a survey (N = 4,154) of public risk perception in Italy and Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both countries were heavily affected by the first wave of infections in Spring 2020, but their governmental responses were very different. As such, the dataset offers unique opportunities to investigate the role of governmental responses in shaping public risk perception. In addition to epidemics, the survey considered indirect effects of COVID-19 (domestic violence, economic crises), as well as global (climate change) and local (wildfires, floods, droughts, earthquakes, terror attacks) threats. The survey examines perceived likelihoods and impacts, individual and authorities’ preparedness and knowledge, and socio-demographic indicators. Hence, the resulting dataset has the potential to enable a plethora of analyses on social, cultural and institutional factors influencing the way in which people perceive risk.

Relationship Between COVID-19 Infection and Risk Perception, Knowledge, Attitude, and Four Nonpharmaceutical Interventions During the Late Period of the COVID-19 Epidemic in China: Online Cross-Sectional Survey of 8158 Adults.

BackgroundSo far, there have been no published population studies on the relationship between a COVID-19 infection and public risk perception, information source, knowledge, attitude, and behaviors during the COVID-19 outbreak in China.ObjectiveThis study aims to understand the relationships between COVID-19 infection; four personal nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs; handwashing, proper coughing habits, social distancing, and mask wearing); and public risk perception, knowledge, attitude, and other social demographic variables.MethodsAn online survey of 8158 Chinese adults between February 22 and March 5, 2020, was conducted. Bivariate associations between categorical variables were examined using Fisher exact test. We also explored the determinants of four NPIs as well as their association with COVID-19 infection using logistic regression.ResultsOf 8158 adults included, 57 (0.73%) were infected with COVID-19. The overwhelming majority of respondents showed a positive attitude (n=8094, 99.2%), positive risk perception (n=8146, 99.9%), and high knowledge levels that were among the strongest predictors of the four adopted NPIs (handwashing: n=7895, 96.8%; proper coughing: 5997/6444, 93.1%; social distancing: n=7104/8158, 87.1%; and mask wearing: 5011/5120, 97.9%). There was an increased risk of COVID-19 infection for those who did not wash their hands (2.28% vs 0.65%; risk ratio [RR] 3.53, 95% CI 1.53-8.15; P=.009), did not practice proper coughing (1.79% vs 0.73%; RR 2.44, 95% CI 1.15-5.15; P=.03), did not practice social distancing (1.52% vs 0.58%; RR 2.63, 95% CI 1.48-4.67; P=.002), and did not wear a mask (7.41% vs 0.6%; RR 12.38, 95% CI 5.81-26.36; P<.001). For those who did practice all other three NPIs, wearing a mask was associated with a significantly reduced risk of infection compared to those who did not wear a mask (0.6% vs 16.7%; P=.04). Similarly, for those who did not practice all or part of the other three NPIs, wearing a mask was also associated with a significantly reduced risk of infection. In a penalized logistic regression model including all four NPIs, wearing a mask was the only significant predictor of COVID-19 infection among the four NPIs (odds ratio 7.20, 95% CI 2.24-23.11; P<.001).ConclusionsWe found high levels of risk perception, positive attitude, desirable knowledge, as well as a high level of adopting the four NPIs. The relevant knowledge, risk perception, and attitude were strong predictors of adapting the four NPIs. Mask wearing, among the four personal NPIs, was the most effective protective measure against COVID-19 infection, with added preventive effect among those who practiced all or part of the other three NPIs.

Does the “NIMBY syndrome” undermine public support for nuclear power in Japan?

A key obstacle to nuclear energy as a decarbonization policy is the public perception of risks of radiation leaks from reactors. In particular, the “not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY)" syndrome suggests that individuals oppose nuclear reactors in their neighborhoods because they overestimate their risks. Arguably, such perceptions would be acute for those who have lived in the vicinity of a nuclear accident. We conducted a surveyembedded experiment in Japan (N = 2574) to assess how the NIMBY syndrome influences public support for restarting nuclear reactors when health, economic, and climate change benefits of nuclear energy are highlighted. We focus on Japan because the risks of nuclear energy became salient after the 2011 Fukushima accident. We test for two types of NIMBY effect, (1) respondents' proximity to any nuclear power plant and (2) respondents' place of residence in 2011 and its proximity to Fukushima. We do not find support for either the NIMBY syndrome or the Fukushima effect. On the contrary, we find support for a “reverse-NIMBY” among low-income residents, when they are treated with information on nuclear energy's low local air pollution (health). Our findings suggest that support for nuclear energy varies across population groups and depends on how its local benefits and costs are framed.

Mercury consumption and human health: Linking pollution and social risk perception in the southeastern United States

The study of the relationships between freshwater organisms, pollution and public awareness has been little researched. The public's perception of risk from pollution is a fundamental component in determining consumer behavior and promoting healthy habits. For instance, understanding how consumers perceive the risks associated with pollution can help with adoption of safe behaviors to reduce the health hazard associated with pollutant exposure. This study focused on the southeastern United States, a region predicted to be exposed to high mercury stress by increasing mercury deposition and methylation. First, we placed our study region in the world map of regions more prone to suffer from increasing mercury stress in a climate change scenario. Second, mercury levels in fish tissues was quantified by direct mercury analyzer (DMA). Third, we explored human fish consumption habits and risk social perception, including willingness to adapt fish consumption based on two future hypothetical scenarios of mercury stress. From a global perspective, our analysis demonstrates that the southern US is one of five world areas of greatest conservation concern for mercury stress. In this region, the average mono-methyl mercury concentration in fish tissues exceeded the limits considered safe for human consumption. Even though many in the local population were aware of the health hazards associated with fish consumption, only women of reproductive age were willing to adopt safe consumption habits. Altogether, these results show how bringing together field data, social perceptions, and consumption habits can help in designing an adaptive strategy to confront mercury pollution. Although our results are for the United States, other world regions prone to suffer increasing mercury stress have been identified and should be the focus of future studies and prescriptions.

Public Risk Perception and Response to Air Pollution

In recent years, as people pay more and more attention to environmental quality, many environmental problems have gradually become the focus of people’s concern, especially those with greater risks. Air pollution is one of the major risk factors of death worldwide and is also the cause of the increased risk of chronic diseases. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to understand the correlation between factors affecting air pollution risk perception and the level of risk perception, and whether they can affect coping behaviour. The results showed that among the demographic variables, only marital status and average monthly income were correlated with air pollution risk perception. In addition, the public satisfaction with the air pollution to the air of the negative correlation between perceived risk, and air pollution information knowledge and the positive correlation between perceived risk of air pollution, can confirm air satisfaction and understanding information about air pollution caused by the risk perception of people have a certain influence, and in the case of the higher the risk perception could prompt them to take more coping behaviour, such as wearing a mask, avoid being outdoors for a long time, and so on.

Evaluation of Climate Change Risk Perception in Baoji City Based on AHP-Bayesian Network

To analyze the gap between the Baoji population’s climate change risk perception and the scientifically measured intensity, danger degree, vulnerability, and exposure of climate change risk based on the basic elements of risk assessment, this paper combines analytic hierarchy process and the Bayesian network to evaluate the climate change risk perception intensity in Baoji City, aiming at simulating climate change risk scenarios and improving the objectivity of assessment results. Specifically, the simulation of climate change risk scenarios is carried out through the measurement of such basic elements as risk, vulnerability, and exposure perceptions, and an objective evaluation of the public climate change risk perception intensity in Baoji City is made, thereby systematically assessing local people’s perception of climate change risk. The model weights the indices of risk perception, vulnerability perception, and exposure perception by analytic hierarchy process, constructs the Bayesian network according to the causal relationship among the risk perception assessment elements, and calculates the risk perception probability at each level by combining the Bayesian network to get the system perception intensity. The perceived intensity of climate change risk was 0.497, being at a medium level. The result has different reference value in terms of the response to and management of different climate change risk categories, so it needs to be adjusted according to the actual situation of Baoji City. The main factors that affect the risk perception intensity in Baoji City are gender, climate change perception trend, ecological environment deterioration degree, and disaster severity degree. Therefore, the decision-makers can make risk management plans accordingly, which plays an important role in regulating and narrowing the gap between people’s perception of climate change risk and the results of scientific measurement.

COVID-19 risk perception in the Czech population

Background: An outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become unprecedented health and socioeconomic threat, which is faced by all countries around the world. The SARS-CoV-2 hit the Czech Republic at the beginning of March 2020. A spread of the disease has been decelerated by quick adopting of the strict and strongly limiting government measures since March, 7. In this study, we present the first results of public risk perception study of COVID-19.Methods: The web questionnaire survey was announced in the nationwide media and conducted during April. The data covered health risk perception with a focus on physical and psychological aspects, current socioeconomic situation and adoption to the lockdown. The survey was going on through the period of the outbreak to find out the risk perception development. The average values of the 5-point Likert scale were tested for differences by Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests on the significance level 5% and analyzed using the SW STATA v.15.Results: From a sample of 9,168 Czech respondents aged 40 years in average (range 15-87 years), the present study shows that women (p&lt;0.001) and elderly lonely people (p&lt;0.001) perceived COVID-19 health risk significantly worse than others. Respondents who lost their jobs during pandemic (2.6%) or whose income decreased (15.3%) were psychically dealing with pandemic worse (p&lt;0.001). Most of the people assessed the measures as adequate (70.4%) and believed in their effectiveness (69.4%). Among commanded restrictions, the social isolation bothered population the most.Conclusion: This study contributes to understanding the risk perception as a public response to COVID-19 pandemic. Since it is considered, that coronavirus occurs in waves, the knowledge of public emotional concerns and trust can play an essential role in their adoption for restrictions in future.

Comparing public perceptions of sea level rise with scientific projections across five states of the U.S. Gulf Coast region

Sea level rise (SLR) in the twenty-first century poses fundamental risks to coastal residents. The US Gulf of Mexico Coast (Gulf Coast) is among the regions experiencing the most rapid relative SLR. Beyond its increasing exposure to SLR and related coastal flooding, the Gulf Coast is home to a large population and displays high social vulnerability. How the coastal population in this vulnerable region perceives the impending risks posed by SLR warrants further examination. Do coastal residents’ perceptions of SLR conform to the scientific projections? We adopt an integrative approach based on a 2019 survey merged with contextual data including percentage of population living within the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) and social vulnerability at the county level, both of which are extracted from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We find that public risk perceptions of sea level change are influenced by political predisposition, with Republicans being less likely than Democrats to expect SLR in the future. Moreover, SLR remains a temporally distant issue among coastal residents. We then directly compare public expectations and scientific estimations of SLR in five states of the US Gulf Coast region and find that coastal residents in states that have experienced faster SLR in the past are more optimistic about future SLR by underestimating its magnitude compared to those experiencing slower SLR. Moreover, we find that people likely conflate the severity with likelihood of SLR risk. The contextual force represented by percentage of population living within the SFHA designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) can significantly influence individuals’ estimations of future SLR, with higher percentages leading to higher estimates. We suspect that the SFHA has become a powerful risk communication tool that influences coastal residents’ judgments about future risk.

Public Awareness and Risk Perceptions of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: A Qualitative Study.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are exogenous chemicals found in food, consumer products, and the environment. EDCs are ubiquitous in modern life and exposure is associated with many negative health effects, such as reproductive disorders, metabolic disorders, and cancer. Scientists have deemed EDCs as a serious public health risk, yet the public’s perceptions of these chemicals is poorly understood. This study aimed to qualitatively explore how aware the public is of EDCs and their attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of EDC risk. Thirty-four participants (aged 19–65 years) took part in the six focus groups. Discussions were transcribed verbatim and Nvivo 11 was used for thematic analysis. Our results indicated that awareness of EDCs was low. Themes of EDC risk perception included perceived control, perceived severity, and similarity heuristics. Risk alleviation strategies were also discussed. Future research should use quantitative methodology and a larger sample size to validate the findings from this study. Findings from this study may aid the development of effective risk communication strategies and public health interventions.

Modeling the Influence of Public Risk Perceptions on the Adoption of Green Stormwater Infrastructure: An Application of Bayesian Belief Networks Versus Logistic Regressions on a Statewide Survey of Households in Vermont

There is growing environmental psychology and behavior literature with mixed empirical evidence about the influence of public risk perceptions on the adoption of environmentally friendly “green behaviors”. Adoption of stormwater green infrastructure on residential properties, while costlier in the short term compared to conventional greywater infrastructure, plays an important role in the reduction of nutrient loading from non-point sources into freshwater rivers and lakes. In this study, we use Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) to analyze a 2015 survey dataset (sample size = 472 respondents) about the adoption of green infrastructure (GSI) in Vermont’s residential areas, most of which are located in either the Lake Champlain Basin or Connecticut River Basin. Eight categories of GSI were investigated: roof diversion, permeable pavement, infiltration trenches, green roofs, rain gardens, constructed wetlands, tree boxes, and others. Using both unsupervised and supervised machine learning algorithms, we used Bayesian Belief Networks to quantify the influence of public risk perceptions on GSI adoption while accounting for a range of demographic and spatial variables. We also compare the effectiveness of the Bayesian Belief Network approach and logistic regression in predicting the pro-environmental behaviors (adoption of GSI). The results show that influencing factors for current adoption differ by the type of GSI. Increased perception of risk from stormwater issues is associated with the adoption of rain gardens and infiltration trenches. Runoff issues are more likely to be considered the governments’ (town, state, and federal agencies) responsibility, whereas lawn erosion is more likely to be considered the residents’ responsibility. When using the same set of variables to predict pro-environmental behaviors (adoption of GSI), the BBN approach produces more accurate predictions compared to logistic regression. The results provide insights for further research on how to encourage residents to take measures for mitigating stormwater issues and stormwater management.

Media attention and policy response: 21st century chemical regulation in the USA

Abstract This article explores the relationship between media coverage of chemical hazards, scientific understandings of chemical risk, and policy change in the USA at the state level from 1990 to 2010. We observe that media coverage compounded by scientific development, especially in relation to a greater understanding of chemical hazards and approaches to its management, affected public perception of health and environmental risk, aiding in a shift of expectations about necessary levels of statutory protection from the states. We also note the emergence of effective framings of chemical risk around impacts on vulnerable populations, such as children, where media attention and policy action created important coalitions of support. The resulting increased state-, county-, and city-level policy action eventually led to support and momentum policy change at the federal level. This study helps to clarify how media attention to chemical hazards may play an important role in influencing eventual policy responses and risk management approaches.

Social media never shake the role of trust building in relieving public risk perception

The avenues through which booming social media information provision reshape public environmental risk perceptions remained unclear. The release of a documentary titled “Under the Dome – Investigating China’s Smog” in mainland China on February 2015 provides a natural experiment to fill the gap. In the experiment, the public was randomly divided into two groups: people who were exposed to the information (treatment group) and people who were not (control group). To track the dynamic changes of risk perceptions of environmental pollution, we conducted three surveys on the perceptions covering two groups within one week after the treatment (March 2015, survey 1) and six months and twelve months later (September 2015, survey 2 and March 2016, survey 3, respectively). Results show that social media information provision reshapes the public risk perception by increasing self-reported knowledge, reducing trust, and making them more fearful. Raised perceived risk encourage the public to take protective behaviours that are nonetheless accompanied by public panic and collapse of trust. Based on the findings, we recommend that the government and the media pay attention to the periodicity of information provision to ensure its effectiveness on promoting the behaviour shifts and minimize the uncertainties embedded in the information to avoid the violation of trust. In addition, the effects of information provision are found to attenuate over time for all perception factors but not for trust. It also reveals that the positive role of trust building in relieving perceived risk are independent of the information provision process. Therefore, trust building shall be considered as a priority to tackle the challenges posed by a dramatically changed communication environment. The findings have wider implications for the perceptions of general risks not limited to environmental pollution.

Stars—They’re Sick Like Us! The Effects of a Celebrity Exemplar on COVID-19-Related Risk Cognitions, Emotions, and Preventative Behavioral Intentions

Research on exemplification suggests that celebrity health exemplars can exert a greater influence on public risk perceptions than exemplars featuring noncelebrities. In the aftermath of actor Tom Hanks’s announcement that he tested positive for COVID-19, an online experiment compared the effects of his exemplar to an identical noncelebrity exemplar. Hanks’s disclosure increased perceptions of susceptibility to the virus. The celebrity exemplar also increased anxiety, which increased intentions to engage in preventive behavior. These findings suggest that the mere presence of celebrity might function as a cognitive and affective heuristic that guides risk-related assessment and decision making.

The Effects of Epistemic Trust and Social Trust on Public Acceptance of Genetically Modified Food: An Empirical Study from China.

Most studies exploring the public acceptance of genetically modified food (GMF) are based on social trust and the establishment of a causal model. The underlying premise is that social trust indirectly affects public acceptance of GMF through perceived risks and perceived benefits. The object of social trust is trust in people, organizations, and institutions. Different from the social trust, epistemic trust refers to people’s trust in scientific knowledge behind the technology of concern. It has been shown that epistemic trust, like social trust, is also an important factor that affects the public perception of applicable risks and benefits. Therefore, it is necessary to incorporate epistemic trust into the causal model to derive a more complete explanation of public acceptance. However, such work has not been conducted to date. The causal model proposed in this paper integrated epistemic trust and social trust and divided social trust into trust in public organizations and trust in industrial organizations. A representative questionnaire survey (N = 1091) was conducted with Chinese adults. The model was analyzed by the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method. Three major findings were obtained: First, epistemic trust is an important antecedent of perceived risks and perceived benefits and exerts a significant indirect effect on the acceptance of GMF. Secondly, trust in industrial organizations negatively impacts perceived risks, while trust in public organizations positively impacts perceived benefits. Thirdly, contrary to the common opinion, trust in industrial organizations did not exert a significant direct effect on perceived benefits, and trust in public organizations did not demonstrate a significant direct effect on perceived risks. Therefore, trust in industrial organizations and trust in public organizations utilize different influence paths on GMF acceptance. This study enriches the understanding of the influence path of trust with regard to the acceptance of emerging technologies and is of great significance to relevant risk-management practices.

Twitter Communication During an Outbreak of Hepatitis A in San Diego, 2016-2018.

Objectives. To examine how and what information is communicated via social media during an infectious disease outbreak.Methods. In the context of the 2016 through 2018 hepatitis A outbreak in San Diego County, California, we used a grounded theory-based thematic analysis that employed qualitative and quantitative approaches to uncover themes in a sample of public tweets (n = 744) from Twitter, a primary platform used by key stakeholders to communicate to the public during the outbreak.Results. Tweets contained both general and hepatitis A-specific information related to the outbreak, restatements of policy and comments critical of government responses to the outbreak, information with the potential to shape risk perceptions, and expressions of concern regarding individuals experiencing homelessness and their role in spreading hepatitis A. We also identified misinformation and common channels of content driving themes that emerged in our sample.Conclusions. Public health professionals may identify real-time public risk perceptions and concerns via social media during an outbreak and target responses that fulfill the informational needs of those who seek direction and reassurance during times of uncertainty.

Public Risk Perception Attitude and Information-Seeking Efficacy on Floods: A Formative Study for Disaster Preparation Campaigns and Policies

Floods are among the most frequent and devastating natural hazards and disasters in many southern states in the United States. This study examined the relationship and reciprocal predictability between two theoretical constructs—risk perception attitude (RPA) and information-seeking efficacy (ISE)—in regard to pluvial floods. In addition, this study extended these theoretical constructs to investigate differences in RPA and ISE among potential audience segments, providing practitioners with applicable insights for designing effective flood prevention and risk management campaigns. Analysis of data from 716 residents in south Louisiana revealed a statistically strong relationship between RPA and ISE. This research also identified specific audience segments that would benefit from an increase in RPA and ISE concerning floods. These meaningful findings inform a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of the relationship between RPA and ISE and guide future disaster preparation campaigns and policies.

Climate Change Risk Perceptions of Audiences in the Climate Change Blogosphere

The Climate Change Risk Perception Model (CCRPM, Van der Linden, 2015) has been used to characterize public risk perceptions; however, little is known about the model’s explanatory power in other (online) contexts. In this study, we extend the model and investigate the risk perceptions of a unique audience: The polarized climate change blogosphere. In total, our model explained 84% of the variance in risk perceptions by integrating socio-demographic characteristics, cognitive factors, experiential processes, socio-cultural influences, and an additional dimension: Trust in scientists and blogs. Although trust and the scientific consensus are useful additions to the model, affect remains the most important predictor of climate change risk perceptions. Surprisingly, the relative importance of social norms and value orientations is minimal. Implications for risk and science communication are discussed.

The influence of media consumption on public risk perception: a meta-analysis

Media is an important explanatory variable in the research on the social amplification of risk; the public often perceives risks in social life through media consumption such as by relying on, using, and trusting the media dialectically. Currently, researchers have not reached a consistent conclusion about the relationship between media consumption and public risk perception (PRP). This study uses meta-analysis to integrate empirical literature and conducts a more in-depth and systematic analysis of the relationship between media consumption and PRP. The results show that (1) there is no significant correlation between general media use (GMU) and PRP, there is positive relationship between selective media exposure (SMEX) and PRP, and there is no significant correlation between media source credibility (MSC) and PRP. (2) Further meta-regression and subgroup analyses show that country type significantly moderates the relationship between GMU and PRP. Compared with high uncertainty avoidance countries, the relationship between GMU and PRP in low uncertainty avoidance countries is stronger. Moreover, risk type significantly moderates the relationship between SMEX and PRP. Compared with terrorist crime, environmental, accident and other types of risks, the SMEX is more positively correlated with public’s food safety and health risk perception. In addition, media type moderates the relationship between MSC and PRP. Compared with traditional media and internet social media, the MSC of mixed media have a stronger positive relationship with PRP.

The public perception of food and non-food related risks of infection and trust in the risk communication during COVID-19 crisis: A study on selected countries from the Arab region

The coronavirus pandemic caused a state of panic worldwide. Mixed messages were given about its risk and how to contain it, when trust in authorities and reliable scientific information are essential to reduce unnecessary scares and inappropriate risk perceptions. We know little about public concerns and opinions in health authorities in the Arab world. Thus, an attempt was made to generate such information through a web-based survey. A total of 1074 subjects from Lebanon, Jordan, and Tunisia were recruited to explore their perception of food and non-food risks of infection and the influence of the source of information, trust, and attitudes towards the local authorities' communication of risk. Seventy percent of the respondents were concerned that COVID-19 may be transmitted through food. The perception of risk from touching contaminated surfaces and food packaging and being exposed to infected people during food shopping was even higher. For only less than half of the respondents, the information from local authorities was considered trustworthy and the associated risk communication and response to false rumors were timely, effective, and clear. But the satisfaction level among the Jordanians was remarkably stronger than for the Lebanese and Tunisian respondents. The demographic factors, trust in information, and attitudes towards authorities' performance in risk communication did not influence risk perceptions. Respondents’ knowledge was limited based on their chief sources of information, such as social media, local news media broadcasts, and announcements by the World Health Organization. Our conclusion is that unnecessary fear increases among the public when risks that impact heath are unknown. More research in the Arab region is needed to understand the determinants of risk perceptions considering psychological factors on the risk to health. Unfortunately, it is difficult to restrict or contain misleading information from various forms of social media. We recommend that for reducing fear and building confidence with the public for appropriate action during the pandemic, local authorities should enhance the quality and level of details of the information that they share during such crises.