The impact of believing you have had COVID-19 on self-reported behaviour: Cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Objectives To investigate whether people who think they have had COVID-19 are less likely to report engaging with lockdown measures compared with those who think they have not had COVID-19. Design On-line cross-sectional survey. Setting Data were collected between 20 th and 22 nd April 2020. Participants 6149 participants living in the UK aged 18 years or over. Main outcome measures Perceived immunity to COVID-19, self-reported adherence to social distancing measures (going out for essential shopping, nonessential shopping, and meeting up with friends/family; total out-of-home activity), worry about COVID-19 and perceived risk of COVID-19 to oneself and people in the UK. Knowledge that cough and high temperature / fever are the main symptoms of COVID-19. We used logistic regression analyses and one-way ANOVAs to investigate associations between believing you had had COVID-19 and binary and continuous outcomes respectively. Results In this sample, 1493 people (24.3%) thought they had had COVID-19 but only 245 (4.0%) reported having received a positive test result. Reported test results were often incongruent with participants’ belief that they had had COVID-19. People who believed that they had had COVID-19 were: more likely to agree that they had some immunity to COVID-19; less likely to report adhering to lockdown measures; less worried about COVID-19; and less likely to know that cough and high temperature / fever are two of the most common symptoms of COVID-19. Conclusions At the time of data collection, the percentage of people in the UK who thought they had already had COVID-19 was about twice the estimated infection rate. Those who believed they had had COVID-19 were more likely to report leaving home. This may contribute to transmission of the virus. Clear communications to this growing group are needed to explain why protective measures continue to be important and to encourage sustained adherence.

Adherence to the test, trace, and isolate system in the UK: results from 37 nationally representative surveys

“…These low rates of symptom recognition are comparable to those found in other UK research 91429. Recognising that symptoms might be indicative of covid-19 is a first step in the chain that leads to isolation when required.…”

“…Reduced adherence to social distancing measures has also been reported in this group. 14 Other research has found an association between higher education and poorer adherence to UK government guidance. 45 Working in a key sector was also associated with not fully self-isolating.…”

“…These low rates of symptom recognition are comparable to those found in other UK research. 9 14 29 Recognising that symptoms might be indicative of covid-19 is a first step in the chain that leads to isolation when required. Greater work to understand why symptom recognition remains low and how to boost it further is important.…”

“… 10 11 12 Some evidence suggests that men and younger age groups are less adherent to covid-19 restrictions, 13 as are those who think they have been infected with SARS-CoV-2. 14 …”

“…Financial constraints and cramped accommodation have been identified as factors that affect whether people will remain at home during the pandemic 101112. Some evidence suggests that men and younger age groups are less adherent to covid-19 restrictions,13 as are those who think they have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 14…”