Attitudes and opinions on quarantine and support for a contact-tracing application in France during the COVID-19 outbreak

Guillon, M.; Kergall, P.

OBJECTIVES: We aim to identify the factors associated with support and compliance with general quarantine and with the acceptability and potential use of a contact-tracing mobile phone application among French respondents. STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a cross-sectional study between April 16th and May 7th 2020 using online questionnaires. METHODS: The sample was reweighted to be representative of the French population by age and sex, region and education level. Ordered logistic, logistic and negative binomial regressions were used to estimate the factors associated with quarantine support, with the opinion on quarantine extension, with the number and type of trips outside the quarantine home and with the acceptability and potential use of a contact-tracing application. RESULTS: After reweighting, full data for regression analyses were available for 1849 respondents. Attitudes and opinions regarding quarantine are correlated with the perceived COVID-19 threat, the perceived benefits of quarantine, trust in the government, well-being during quarantine and risk preferences. Trust in the government, perceived individual health consequences in case of COVID-19 infection and time preferences are associated with the willingness to use a contact-tracing application. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis indicates that prevention campaigns that stress the individual risk in case of infection or the benefits of quarantine could foster compliance to quarantine protocols. Remote psychological support might also promote quarantine adherence among individuals most distressed by the quarantine. Moreover, public communications should focus on restoring trust among the population as trust is strongly correlated with the willingness to use a contact-tracing application.