Youth Knowledge of COVlD-19 and Sources of Information on March 6, 2020 (N = 1,043)
| Question, Themea | No. (%) | Example Quote |
|---|---|---|
| What do you know about coronavirus or COVID-19? Where did you hear that? Types of information known | ||
| COVID-19 knowledge | 732 (70.2) | |
| Disease characteristics | 407 (55.6) | “It has about a 2% fatality rate thus far.…” “It’s a virus. Its symptoms are fever, cough, and chest issues.” |
| Contagiousness | 365 (49.9) | “…it’s spreading rapidly…” “…it is very contagious and spread through droplets in the air.” |
| Origin or disease location | 316 (43.2) | “It is in the United States and originated in China.” |
| Susceptibility characteristics | 166 (22.7) | “it mostly seems to kill the elderly or those with pre-existing conditions.” “I know fatality is low for my age.” |
| No COVID-19 knowledge | 44 (4.2) | “I don’t know anything.” |
| Perception of COVID-19 | ||
| Severe or deadly | 222 (21.3) | “I know that people are dying.…” |
| Not severe | 134 (12.8) | “The infection rates are low, and fatality rates are even lower.” |
| Source of information | ||
| News | 480 (46.0) | “The news is everywhere.” “…news outlets such as CNN Fox News CBS.…” |
| Social media | 177 (17.0) | “…Twitter, Reddit, CNN” “Heard about it on Instagram first.…” |
| Friends and family | 124 (11.9) | “…hearing from family and friends.” “I know a lot about it as my mom has been non-stop feeding me information.” |
| Government or academia | 89 (8.5) | “I read every article from the CDC, the WHO, and stats.com.” “I’ve kept up-to-date on COVID-19 through the legitimate sources we should be trusting, the CDC and WHO.” |
| School | 88 (8.4) | “…I heard that from a teacher at school.” “…a lot of school emails” |
CBS = Columbia Broadcasting System; CDC = Centers for Disease Control; CNN = Cable News Network; COVID-19 = coronavirus disease 2019; WHO = World Health Organization.
↵aTotals may not add to 100% because codes are not mutually exclusive.