Perceived vulnerability to COVID-19 infection from event attendance: Results from Louisiana, USA, two weeks preceding the national emergency declaration

Ran Li; Bingchen Yang; Jerrod Penn; Bailey Houghtaling; Juan Chen; Witoon Prinyawiwatkul; Brian Roe; Danyi Qi

with a significant jump in this perception compared to the first study day occurring at the 2 9 9 beginning of the second week of the study (March 9). National Likelihood that align with the previous literature, e.g., women perceive a national 3 0 2 public health crisis as more likely than men [23] [24] . Other significant associations have no those desiring to eat healthier have been exposed to wide-spread nutrition misinformation in the media, which has recently included unfounded claims that healthy eating or certain supplements products has resulted in federal warnings to several companies promoting unproven nutrition- based remedies and preventatives for COVID-19 [25] . This might indicate reduced perceived 3 1 3 risk of acquiring infectious disease among healthy eaters in our sample, based on these factors, 3 1 4 although further investigation is required. of risk perception to self-prophylaxis measures, such as social distancing, which slows 3 1 7 community spread. While we did not elicit explicit measures of such behaviors, we did assess 3 1 8 participants' perceived vulnerability to contracting COVID-19 from attending campus events, 3 1 9 (Local Vulnerability), which may signal a willingness to undertake social distancing and other 3 2 0 beneficial behaviors and be a behavioral precursor. The first insight from observing the raw data