ABSTRACT
To understand the public sentiment toward the measures used by policymakers for COVID-19 containment, a survey among representative samples of the population in seven European countries was carried out in the first two weeks of April 2020. The study addressed people's support for containment policies, worries about COVID-19 consequences, and trust in sources of information. Citizens were overall satisfied with their government's response to the pandemic;however, the extent of approval differed across countries and policy measures. A north-south divide in public opinion was noticeable across the European states. It was particularly pronounced for intrusive policy measures, such as mobile data use for movement tracking, economic concerns, and trust in the information from the national government. Considerable differences in people's attitudes were noticed within countries, especially across individual regions and age groups. The findings suggest that the epidemic acts as a stressor, causing health and economic anxieties even in households that were not directly affected by the virus. At the same time, the burden of stress was unequally distributed across regions and age groups. Based on the data collected, we draw lessons from the containment stage and identify several insights that can facilitate the design of lockdown exit strategies and future containment policies so that a high level of compliance can be expected. Key messages Citizens were overall satisfied with their government's response to the COVID-19 outbreak. A north-south pattern in public opinion was observed across the European states.
ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in many parts of the world has posed serious concerns to the public health. During this period of crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) reminds all countries and communities that the spread of this virus can be significantly slowed or even reversed through the implementation of robust containment and control measures. The WHO has also asked the public to be careful while reading and spreading health recommendations from untrustworthy online sources of information. Myths and misbeliefs about the prevention and spread of COVID-19 not only create global panic but also pose risks to people's lives and public health in general. Rampant misinformation on the disease slows down the efforts of public health bodies to contain the outbreak. Therefore, the role of public health bodies in communicating the right message and in the right form to the public is crucial. In our study, we aim to assess the effectiveness of communication strategies used by international and national public health authorities to inform the public on COVID-19 risks and prevention. In particular, we conduct a survey experiment on a large sample (N = 4000) of adults from seven European countries to test the efficacy of public health messages in a form of prevention and corrective information provision. The study seeks to investigate how people's risk perceptions and behaviors change subject to the preventive information provision or treatment with the information countering widely spread misperceptions about the COVID-19 as compared to the control group. The findings of this research will be relevant for policymakers and public health professionals in the development of effective communication strategies during disease outbreaks. Key messages Risk perceptions towards COVID-19 and their determinants across European countries are unknown. Unclear effectiveness of public health messages in a form of prevention and corrective information provision.