Stopping the COVID-19 pandemic was immediately prevented by a total lie

During the acute stage of the pandemic, the world experienced a time of severe restrictions in normal life: self-isolation, social distance, quarantines, mask regime, etc. However, as time passed, it turned out that half (!) of patients hid their COVID status during the period of illness. That is, knowing about the infection, they calmly went to the masses and spread the virus. This was shown by the results of a survey published in the authoritative medical journal JAMA Network Open.

The effectiveness of public health measures taken to reduce the spread and impact of SARS-CoV-2 depends largely on the integrity and commitment of the general public, scientists note. “Misrepresentation and non-compliance with public health measures in relation to COVID-19” is the title of their work by researchers who decided to study the causes and prevalence of misrepresentation and non-compliance with preventive measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. The idea came to them after they noticed several stories in the media about people who admitted to lying about their vaccination status.

The survey asked 1,733 U.S. adults to indicate whether they had ever misrepresented their COVID-19 status, vaccination status, or told others they were following public health measures when they were not. Nearly half of participants reported misrepresentation and/or non-compliance with COVID-19 prevention measures. Screening questions allowed health researchers and psychologists to split the participants evenly: one-third had had COVID-19, one-third had not had COVID-19 and had been vaccinated, and one-third had not been vaccinated but had gotten sick.

Based on a list of nine behaviors, 721 respondents (42%) reported that they misrepresented COVID-19 status or did not follow recommendations to adhere to preventive measures. The most common violations are: failure to comply with quarantine rules; telling someone they were or were going to meet that they were taking more COVID-19 precautions than they actually were; not disclosing that they may have been infected or knew they had COVID-19 when entering a doctor’s office; indicating that a person has been vaccinated when in fact they have not and, conversely, reporting that they have not been vaccinated when in fact they have been vaccinated. About 20% kept their status secret when going to a public place.

Younger participants and those who lacked trust in science were more likely to be dishonest and ignore public health measures related to COVID-19. They were also less likely to disclose truthful medical information and adhere to COVID-19 prevention measures. Researchers found no link between COVID-19 misinformation and political and religious beliefs.

The reasons why respondents distorted the facts were also interesting: “the desire for life to seem normal” (50%), “because freedom” (45%), “it’s no one’s business” (40%) and “COVID doesn’t exist.” (thirty%)”. Responses also included “it was no big deal,” “I didn’t feel sick,” “I followed the advice of a celebrity or other public figure,” and “I couldn’t miss work to stay home.”

The researchers honestly answer that, having received such results, they are not entirely sure that people answered their questions honestly. As Dr. House said, everyone lies. This means that people, distorting their health status, underestimate it. “Some people may think that if they lie once or twice about their COVID-19 status, it’s no big deal,” said study co-author Angela Fagerlin, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Population Health Sciences at USF. “But if, as our research shows, almost half of us do so, it is a serious problem that contributes to the prolongation of the pandemic, as well as the spread of other infectious diseases in the future. When people are dishonest about their COVID-19 status or the precautions they are taking, it can mean death for some people.”

Clinical psychologist Yakov Miroshin commented on the results of this work for MK: “The measures that limited people’s life activities during the pandemic to reduce the spread of the virus were perceived by many as a violation of their personal freedom. And they placed stress on psychological, social, financial and physical health, often leading to people breaking rules or lying about following them. In Russia, as we remember, all this ended very quickly: unlike European countries, our people very quickly stopped observing social distance and wearing masks. And they quickly mastered the forgery of vaccination certificates and negative Covid tests. I know that they were literally printed on a printer.”

By the way, this is not the first study on this topic. A similar survey conducted early in the pandemic found that 55% were hiding COVID-19 symptoms, and among those instructed to quarantine, 53% reported denying the need to do so when asked. Additionally, approximately 10% of full-time employees reported going to work despite having a confirmed case of COVID-19 or being in close contact with a confirmed case, and half of those required to quarantine because for infection or possible symptoms of COVID-19 violated its rules.

Doctors are confident that if the number of liars had not been so colossal, the pandemic would have been stopped much faster, and the number of its victims would have been fewer.