Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: May 3, 2021
Date Accepted: Jul 6, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Aug 3, 2021
Association of COVID-19 Risk Misperceptions with Household Isolation in the United States
ABSTRACT
Background:
Adverse mental and emotional health outcomes are increasingly recognized as a public health challenge associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Household isolation was a widely practiced public health measure but may worsen mental and emotional health.
Objective:
To examine the association of COVID-19 risk misperceptions with household isolation, a potential risk factor for social isolation and loneliness.
Methods:
We analyzed data from the Franklin Templeton-Gallup Economics of Recovery Study (July 2020-December 2020) of 24,649 U.S. adults. We also analyzed data from the Gallup Panel (March 2020-February 2021) which included 123,516 observations about loneliness. Primary outcome was household isolation, which we defined as a respondent reporting having no contact or very little contact with people outside their household, analogous to quarantining.
Results:
From July-December 2020, 53% to 57% of respondents reported living in household isolation. Most participants reported beliefs about COVID-19 health risks that were inaccurate, and overestimation of health risk was most common. For example, while deaths in persons younger than 55 years-old accounted for 7% of total U.S. deaths, respondents estimated that this population represented 43% of deaths. Overestimating COVID-19 health risks was associated with increased likelihood of household isolation, from 7.7 percentage points in July/August (P<0.001) to 11.8 percentage points in December (P<0.001). Characteristics associated with household isolation from the July/August 2020 survey and persisting in the December 2020 survey included younger age (18 to 39 years), having a serious medical condition, having a household member with a serious medical condition, and identifying as a Democrat. In the Gallup Panel, living in household isolation was associated with a higher prevalence of loneliness.
Conclusions:
Pandemic-related harms to emotional and mental well-being may be attenuated by reducing risk overestimation and household isolation preferences that exceed public health guidelines.
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