In survey, many parents report not adhering to COVID-19 guidelines

Key takeaways:

• Around one-quarter of surveyed parents reported not adhering to public health measures against COVID-19.
• The most commonly reported behavior was not telling someone who had contact with their child that they knew or suspected the child had COVID-19.

Around one-quarter of surveyed U.S. parents reported not adhering to COVID-19 public health measures for their children, like quarantines, or neglecting to tell others that they knew or suspected their child was sick, researchers reported.

“People are not always honest about their medical information or adherent to medical recommendations, including the public health measures against COVID-19,” they wrote.

The researchers surveyed 1,733 American adult respondents, including 580 (33.5%) who reported having children aged younger than 18 years living with them during the pandemic.

Among those 580 respondents, 403 identified as women and 389 reported being non-Hispanic white.

The researchers asked respondents if they had ever engaged in seven types of behaviors regarding their children:

• neglected to mention that they thought or knew a child had COVID-19 to someone the child was with or about to be with in person;
• said a child did not have to quarantine even though they were supposed to;
• broke quarantine rules;
• said a child was older than they actually were so the child could get a COVID-19 vaccine;
• said a child was vaccinated when they were unvaccinated;
• said a child was unvaccinated when they were vaccinated; or
• avoided getting a child tested when they thought the child might have COVID-19.

According to the responses, 150 participants (25.9%) reported misrepresenting their child’s health or vaccine status or not adhering to in at least one of the seven public health measures, with the most common behavior being not telling someone who was in contact with their child that that they knew or thought their child was sick (24%).

The most common reason was to preserve parental autonomy, with additional reasons including wanting to resume a “normal” life for their child, an inability to miss work or other responsibilities, the child not feeling very sick and not thinking COVID-19 was real.

“These results suggest that some [public health measures] implemented to limit the spread of COVID-19 may have been compromised due to misrepresentation and nonadherence by parents on behalf of their children, contributing to COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality,” the researchers wrote. “In addition, some children appear to have received a vaccine that was not fully tested and approved in their age group.”

They concluded that the findings suggest “a serious public health challenge in the immediate context of the COVID-19 pandemic, including future waves affecting weary parents, as well as future infectious disease outbreaks.”

“Further work is needed to identify groups at highest risk of misrepresentation and nonadherence, to address parents’ concerns that were identified as reasons for these behaviors (eg, desire for autonomy), and to implement better support mechanisms for parents (eg, paid sick leave for family illness) during such crises so that misrepresentation and nonadherence feel less necessary,” they wrote.