Survey Finds More Than 4 in 10 Americans Disregarded or Lied About Taking COVID-19 Safety Measures
A newly published study found that 42% of Americans either did not take COVID-19 precautions or lied about their adherence to these safety measures. The survey, conducted in December of 2021, revealed they ignored or lied about following at one or more type of preventative measure. Nearly 1 in 4 people lied to someone they were with or going to see about the extent to which they were following safety strategies and 22.5% of individuals chose not to abide by quarantine rules. The survey also found that 21.5% of people avoided getting tested when they suspected they were COVID-19 positive and 20.4% visited a physician’s office without disclosing a suspected or confirmed infection. The lack of adherence to safety protocols prolonged the pandemic and put everyone at greater risk of infection. Greater spread of the virus is particularly dangerous for people who are more susceptible to severe disease, such as people with chronic health conditions or those fighting cancer. “For some people, particularly before we had COVID vaccines, that can mean death, said Dr. Andrea Gurmankin Levy, the study’s coauthor. Senior author, Dr. Angela Fagerlin said that even an occasional mistruth can lead to deadly consequences; “Some people may think dodging the truth about COVID-19 once or twice is no big deal…but if, as our study suggests, nearly half of us are doing it, that’s a significant problem that contributes to prolonging the pandemic”.
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