CDC survey finds most respondents support COVID-19 prevention measures
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Most people supported stay-at-home orders, reported wearing face coverings appropriately and were accepting of restrictions put in place to limit the spread of COVID-19, according to findings from surveys conducted in New York City and Los Angeles that were published in MMWR.
“CDC’s COVID-19 response is now in its sixth month, and [although] we’re making real progress, we have a lot of work ahead as we reopen America,” CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD, said during a press briefing today. “Our recommendations evolve based on new information that becomes available, but it’s extremely important to embrace recommendations [regarding] social distancing, hand-washing and wearing a face covering when in public.”
To assess and understand public attitudes, behaviors and beliefs related to strategies for slowing transmission of COVID-19, Mark É. Czeisler, of Monash University and Austin Health in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues conducted a survey among adults aged 18 years and older in New York City and Los Angeles and broadly across the U.S. from May 5 through May 12. According to the findings in MMWR Report, 2,402 people completed the survey and 2,221 respondents passed a quality screening evaluation. The final analysis included 1,676 respondents in the U.S. cohort, 286 in the New York City cohort and 259 in the Los Angeles cohort.
Most respondents in the three cohorts supported stay-at-home orders and nonessential business closures (U.S., 79.5%; New York, 86.7%; Los Angeles, 81.5%), reported always or often wearing cloth face coverings in public areas (U.S., 74.1%; New York, 89.6%; Los Angeles 89.8%) and believed that their state’s restrictions had the right balance or were not restrictive enough (U.S., 84.3%; New York, 89.7%; Los Angeles, 79.7%).
Additionally, 67.3% of respondents in the U.S. agreed that nonessential workers should stay home, as did 76.6% of respondents in New York and 69.1% of respondents in Los Angeles. More than 80% of respondents in all cohorts agreed with limiting groups of 10 or more and more than 87% of respondents in all cohorts agreed with maintaining 6 feet of distance between individuals.
“The article underscores the fact that the American people have taken mitigation efforts seriously to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2,” Jay C. Butler, MD, CDC’s deputy director of infectious diseases and COVID-19 response incident manager, said during today’s briefing. “It demonstrates our country’s collective spirit in responding to the pandemic.”
During the briefing, Redfield and Butler also addressed CDC’s “common sense precautions” moving forward as America reopens.
These include assessing the risks of planned activities by asking questions about the need to use public transportation or travel to another community, sharing tools or equipment with others and the risk for severe illness to the individual and to those one lives with, among other questions. CDC also recommends being prepared by having face coverings, tissues and hand sanitizer available and using them appropriately, in addition to knowing the precautions to take during and after a visit to a bank, restaurant, gym or salon.
For events and gatherings, CDC recommends requiring the use of face coverings, tissues and hand sanitizer when necessary, cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces between uses, preventing lines from forming around restroom areas and ensuring proper air ventilation, among other suggestions.
“We recognize that we’re all getting tired of staying at home and that people long for the lives they had back in December,” Butler said, adding that the general rule of thumb is “the more closely we interact with other, the longer the interactions last and the greater the number of people interacting, the higher the risk is for COVID-19.”
“The direction of the pandemic is in our hands, so let’s wash those hands,” Butler said.
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