JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Identifying new cases of COVID-19 is challenging. Not every suspected case undergoes testing, because testing kits and other equipment are limited in many parts of the world. Yet populations increasingly use the internet to manage both home and work life during the pandemic, giving researchers mediated connections to millions of people sheltering in place.

Objective:

To assess the feasibility of using an online news platform to recruit volunteers willing to report COVID-19 symptoms and behaviors.

Methods:

An online epidemiologic survey captured COVID-19 related symptoms and behaviors from individuals recruited through banner ads offered through Microsoft News. Respondents indicated whether they were experiencing symptoms, whether they received COVID-19 testing, and whether they traveled outside of their local area.

Results:

A total of 87,322 respondents completed the survey across a span of three weeks at the end of April 2020, with 54.3% responses from the U.S. and 32.0% from Japan. Of the respondents, 19,631 (22.5%) reported at least one symptom of COVID-19. Nearly two-fifths of these respondents (39.1%) reported >1 COVID-19 symptom. Just 4.8% of respondents reporting at least one symptom disclosed having received testing for COVID-19. Respondents were geographically diverse with all states and most ZIP Codes represented in the dataset. More than half of respondents from both countries were >50 years of age.

Conclusions:

News platforms can be used to quickly recruit study participants, enabling collection of infectious disease symptoms at-scale and with populations that are distinct from those found through social media platforms. Such platforms could enable epidemiologists and researchers to quickly assess trends in emerging infections potentially before individuals present to clinics and hospitals for testing and/or treatment.