JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Background:

Massive community-wide testing has become a cornerstone of management strategies for the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to assess public attitudes, risk perception, information needs, perceived access, and uptake experience about COVID-19 testing in the UK and China.

Objective:

This study aimed to assess public attitudes, risk perception, information needs, perceived access, and uptake experience about COVID-19 testing in the UK and China.

Methods:

Methods We collected and manually coded 3856 UK tweets and 9299 Chinese Sina Weibo posts mentioning COVID-19 testing from June to July, 2020. We adopted a grounded theory framework to conduct content analysis. Descriptive analysis, time trends, geographical mapping, and chi-squared test were performed to assess the temporal, spatial, and socio-demographic characteristics that determine the difference of attitudes or uptake of COVID-19 tests.

Results:

Results Social media users in the UK demonstrated a higher percentage of support towards COVID-19 testing than those in China; comparatively, there were much wider reports of public uptake of COVID-19 tests in mainland China than the UK, and uncomfortable experiences and logistical barriers to testing were more expressed in China. The top reasons for taking COVID-19 tests were personal health needs, community-wide testing, and mandatory testing policies for travel, with major differences in the ranking order between two countries. Rumours and information need about COVID-19 testing were also identified.

Conclusions:

Conclusion The local epidemic situation influenced public attitudes towards individual COVID-19 testing and mass community-wide testing. Policies and information campaigns that emphasise the importance of timely testing and provide a supporting environment for accessing a test are key to normalise COVID-19 testing as a part of life during the pandemic and to increase uptake.