ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2020
Cross-Country Comparison of Public Awareness, Rumors, and Behavioral Responses to the COVID-19 Epidemic: Infodemiology Study.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers.
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Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed.
- Telemanagement of Home-Isolated COVID-19 Patients Using Oxygen Therapy With Noninvasive Positive Pressure Ventilation and Physical Therapy Techniques: Randomized Clinical Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Trial
- Risk Communication and Infodemic Misframing inMicroorganisms · 2026Article
- Intervention in Health Misinformation Using Large Language Models for Automated Detection, Thematic Analysis, and Inoculation: Case Study on COVID-19.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Internet Health Information-Seeking Trend of Urinary Incontinence in Mainland China: Infodemiology Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- A Comprehensive Analysis of COVID-19 Misinformation, Public Health Impacts, and Communication Strategies: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Effects of Intervention Timing on Health-Related Fake News: Simulation Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- #4Corners4Health Social Media Cancer Prevention Campaign for Emerging Adults: Protocol for a Randomized Stepped-Wedge Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2024Article
- Changes to Public Health Surveillance Methods Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- Deep Learning Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Confidence Expressed on Twitter in 6 High-Income Countries: Longitudinal Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Observational
- Openness to change among COVID misinformation endorsers: Associations with social demographic characteristics and information source usage.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2023Article
- Living with COVID-19 and preparing for future pandemics: revisiting lessons from the HIV pandemic.The lancet. HIV · 2023Review
- How can the collaborative participation of regulators, whistleblowers, and parties effectively promote rumor management in public health emergencies?Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Burnout, emotional distress and sleep quality among Chinese psychiatric healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a follow-up study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Interplay between Discrete Emotions and Preventive Behavior in Health Crises: Big Data Analysis of COVID-19.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Understanding the COVID-19 Infodemic: Analyzing User-Generated Online Information During a COVID-19 Outbreak in Vietnam.Healthcare informatics research · 2022Article
- Emotion, analytic thinking and susceptibility to misinformation during the COVID-19 outbreak.Computers in human behavior · 2022Article
- Spatiotemporal disparities in regional public risk perception of COVID-19 using Bayesian Spatiotemporally Varying Coefficients (STVC) series models across Chinese cities.International journal of disaster risk reduction : IJDRR · 2022Article
- Vaccines and the social amplification of risk.Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis · 2022Article
- Measuring a panic buying behavior: the role of awareness, demographic factors, development, and verification.Heliyon · 2022Article
- (Mis)Information, Fears and Preventative Health Behaviours Related to COVID-19.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundUnderstanding public behavioral responses to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic and the accompanying infodemic is crucial to controlling the epidemic.
objectiveThe aim of this study was to assess real-time public awareness and behavioral responses to the COVID-19 epidemic across 12 selected countries.
methodsInternet surveillance was used to collect real-time data from the general public to assess public awareness and rumors (China: Baidu; worldwide: Google Trends) and behavior responses (China: Ali Index; worldwide: Google Shopping). These indices measured the daily number of searches or purchases and were compared with the numbers of daily COVID-19 cases. The trend comparisons across selected countries were observed from December 1, 2019 (prepandemic baseline) to April 11, 2020 (at least one month after the governments of selected countries took actions for the pandemic).
resultsWe identified missed windows of opportunity for early epidemic control in 12 countries, when public awareness was very low despite the emerging epidemic. China's epidemic and the declaration of a public health emergency of international concern did not prompt a worldwide public reaction to adopt health-protective measures; instead, most countries and regions only responded to the epidemic after their own case counts increased. Rumors and misinformation led to a surge of sales in herbal remedies in China and antimalarial drugs worldwide, and timely clarification of rumors mitigated the rush to purchase unproven remedies.
conclusionsOur comparative study highlights the urgent need for international coordination to promote mutual learning about epidemic characteristics and effective control measures as well as to trigger early and timely responses in individual countries. Early release of official guidelines and timely clarification of rumors led by governments are necessary to guide the public to take rational action.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.