Around 3 in 4 Americans report hearing conflicting information about COVID-19

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Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

Survey: A study based solely on people’s responses to a series of questions.

People: This is a study based on research using people.

Almost 75 per cent of US adults surveyed in April say they have heard conflicting information about the COVID-19 pandemic, according to US research. Overall, participants noticed more disagreement among politicians than health  experts - and people perceived there to be more disagreement around specific aspects of COVID-19 than around the effectiveness of strategies for preventing its spread. The authors say the fast changing nature of the science around COVID, and the politicisation of the science, can be sources of conflict, and the study suggests this conflict does not go unnoticed by the public. Whether being aware of disagreement around COVID has any other impacts needs further research, but the authors research in other areas shows conflicting health information can lead to frustration, annoyance, confusion, backlash and ambivalence.

Journal/conference: PLOS ONE

Link to research (DOI): 10.1371/journal.pone.0240776

Organisation/s: University of Minnesota, USA

Funder: This work was supported by a COVID-19 Rapid Response Grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Minnesota (OVPR COVID19 #05; PI: RHN). Additional support was provided by a grant from the National Cancer Institute (5R21CA218054-02; PI: RHN). This content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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