The Austrian Corona Panel Project: Monitoring Individual and Societal Dynamics amidst the COVID-19 Crisis

Kittel, Bernhard; Kritzinger, Sylvia; Boomgaarden, Hajo G.; Prainsack, Barbara; Eberl, Jakob-Moritz; Kalleitner, Fabian; Lebernegg, Noëlle S.; Partheymueller, Julia; Plescia, Carolina; Schiestl, David W.; Schlögl, Lukas

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3654139

Cited by 24 publications

(31 citation statements)

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“…At the time of writing this manuscript, over half a year after the launch of the respective contact tracing apps, app developers and authorities were facing lower user rates than initially expected [ 8 , 9 ]. This constitutes some tension with other government measures that also limited people’s freedom but were readily accepted; for example, the majority of people in Germany and Austria supported compulsory face mask use a few months later [ 12 , 68 , 69 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although surveys conducted in Spring 2020 reported acceptance rates of up to 70% for hypothetical contact tracing apps in Germany and Switzerland [ 8 , 9 ], only 25% and 31% of the total populations in Germany and Switzerland, respectively, had downloaded the app by October 30, 2020, with active user estimations ranging around 21% in both countries [ 2 , 10 ]. On the other hand, only 12% of the population in Austria had downloaded the Stopp Corona App by mid-April 2020 [ 11 , 12 ], and download rates only increased marginally to 12.4% until October 2020 [ 13 ]. Modeling studies estimated that for contact tracing apps to be effective, the user rate needed to be at least 56% of the overall population [ 14 ] and that uptake rates need to be higher for decentralized data storage systems than for centralized ones [ 15 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Early Perceptions of COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps in German-Speaking Countries: Comparative Mixed Methods Study

Zimmermann¹,

Fiske²,

Prainsack³

et al. 2021

J Med Internet Res

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Background The main German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) have implemented digital contact tracing apps to assist the authorities with COVID-19 containment strategies. Low user rates for these apps can affect contact tracing and, thus, its usefulness in controlling the spread of the novel coronavirus. Objective This study aimed to assess the early perceptions of people living in the German-speaking countries and compare them with the frames portrayed in the newspapers during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We conducted qualitative interviews with 159 participants of the SolPan project. Of those, 110 participants discussed contact tracing apps and were included in this study. We analyzed articles regarding contact tracing apps from 12 newspapers in the German-speaking countries. Results Study participants perceived and newspaper coverage in all German-speaking countries framed contact tracing apps as governmental surveillance tools and embedded them in a broader context of technological surveillance. Participants identified trust in authorities, respect of individual privacy, voluntariness, and temporary use of contact tracing apps as prerequisites for democratic compatibility. Newspapers commonly referenced the use of such apps in Asian countries, emphasizing the differences in privacy regulation among these countries. Conclusions The uptake of digital contact tracing apps in German-speaking countries may be undermined due to privacy risks that are not compensated by potential benefits and are rooted in a deeper skepticism towards digital tools. When authorities plan to implement new digital tools and practices in the future, they should be very transparent and proactive in communicating their objectives and the role of the technology—and how it differs from other, possibly similar, tools. It is also important to publicly address ethical, legal, and social issues related to such technologies prior to their launch.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Perceptions of COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps in German-Speaking Countries: Comparative Mixed Methods Study

Zimmermann¹,

Fiske²,

Prainsack³

et al. 2021

J Med Internet Res

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…About 1,000 respondents participated in wave 1, and about 2,000 from wave 2 to wave 10 (June 2020). For Austria, data are from the Austrian Corona Panel Project (ACPP; Kittel et al 2020a), an online panel survey in which around 1,500 panellists participated first in weekly waves from March 27, 2020 until June 3, 2020 (Wave 1 until Wave 10), and then in bi-weekly waves until July 15, 2020 (Wave 11 till Wave 13). 4 Both panel data collection efforts were implemented independently in the two countries at the time when the respective government announced its various lockdown measures, or shortly after, and ran throughout the following stages of the crisis when lockdown measures were being lifted.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Rally round the flag’: the COVID-19 crisis and trust in the national government

Kritzinger

Foucault

Lachat

et al. 2021

West European Politics

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180

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During international crises, trust in government is expected to increase irrespective of the wisdom of the policies it pursues. This has been called a 'rally-round-the-flag' effect. This article examines whether the COVID-19 crisis has resulted in such a rally effect. Using multi-wave panel surveys conducted in Austria and France starting from March 2020, in the article it is examined how government trust was affected by the perceived threats to the nation's health and economy created by the pandemic as well as by the perceived appropriateness of the government's crisis response. A strong rally effect is shown in Austria, where trust was closely tied to perceived health risks, but faded away quickly over time. Perceptions of government measures mattered, too, while perceived economic threat only played a minor role. In France, in contrast, a strong partisan divide is found and no rally effect. KEYWORDS COVID-19; trust in government; rally effect; panel data; threat perceptions; crisis management During international crises, support for the government is expected to increase even regardless of the wisdom of the policies it pursues (Mueller 1970(Mueller , 1973. This effect is commonly called the 'rally-round-the-flag' effect. As international crises create unexpected and profound challenges to the status quo, such an increase in support for the government helps politicians in objectively bad times to enact specific emergency policies (Davis and Silver 2004). While political support is critical for society's functioning even under normal circumstances (Zmerli and van der Meer 2017), trust in the government in times of crisis becomes ever more

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“…The second data set comes from the Austrian Corona Panel Project at the University of Vienna[14, 15]. Here, respondents were quota sampled from a pre-existing online access panel of another survey agency (Marketagent, Baden) based on key demographics (age, gender, region, municipality, size, and educational level).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of COVID-19 restriction measures on loneliness among older adults in Austria

Stolz

Mayerl

Freidl

2020

Preprint

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Background: To halt the spread of COVID-19, Austria implemented a 7-week shut-down of public life in March/April 2020 which was followed by a gradual withdrawal of these restriction measures in May/June 2020. We expect that the ensuing reduction in social contacts led to increased loneliness among older adults (60+). Methods: We conducted three analyses to assess the association between COVID-19 public health restriction measures and loneliness: (1) A comparison between pre-pandemic (SHARE: 2013-2017) and pandemic (May 2020) levels of loneliness (UCLA-3 scale), (2) an analysis of the correlation between being affected by COVID-19 restriction measures and loneliness based on cross-sectional survey data from early May 2020, and (3) a longitudinal analysis of weekly changes in loneliness (Corona panel data) from late March to early June 2020. Results: We found (1) loneliness levels to have increased in 2020 in comparison with previous years, (2) an association between the number of restriction measures older adults reported to be affected from and loneliness, and (3) that loneliness was higher during shut-down compared to the subsequent re-opening phase, particularly among those who live alone. Discussion: Our results provide evidence that COVID-19 restriction measures in Austria have indeed resulted in increased levels of loneliness among older adults. However, these effects seem to be short-lived, and thus we do not expect strong negative consequences for older adults mental health downstream. Nonetheless, effects of longer and/or repeated future restriction measures aiming at social distancing should be closely monitored.

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The Austrian Corona Panel Project: Monitoring Individual and Societal Dynamics amidst the COVID-19 Crisis

Cited by 24 publications

References 0 publications

Early Perceptions of COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps in German-Speaking Countries: Comparative Mixed Methods Study

Early Perceptions of COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps in German-Speaking Countries: Comparative Mixed Methods Study

‘Rally round the flag’: the COVID-19 crisis and trust in the national government

The impact of COVID-19 restriction measures on loneliness among older adults in Austria

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