NEWS
WVSOM researchers study West Virginia residents ’ COVID-19 perceptions
A group of student and faculty researchers at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine ( WVSOM ) spent three months in 2020 using social media platforms to gauge West Virginia residents ’ perceptions of and behavioral attitudes toward the COVID-19 virus and pandemic .
Fourth-year student Benjamin Kastenbauer and second-year student Karthik Dhanireddy , along with WVSOM clinical sciences faculty members Chelsea Feger , DO ; Lauren Miller , DO ; and Lourdes Bernardino , MD , also aimed to gain insight as to how perceived risks related to the virus influenced patterns of behavior during the pandemic , which may affect the infectivity rate in West Virginia . The researchers collected demographic information from participants such as gender , age , and county of residence from consenting participants .
The five-member team collected information from 822 individuals from 47 of West Virginia ’ s 55 counties , ultimately determining that nearly 31 % of those sampled lacked an understanding of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission of COVID-19 and that most residents had a greater concern for others contracting the virus than themselves .
“ An important driving factor for this research is the presence of health disparities in West Virginia ,” said Kastenbauer . “ In the era of the COVID-19 pandemic , we wanted to identify how West Virginia residents may be interpreting this disease and how further education may be directed toward population concerns .”
Data indicated that most West Virginians knew the common symptoms of COVID-19 as determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ), including fever , difficulty breathing , and coughing . While 69 % of respondents acknowledged that COVID-19 may present as asymptomatic , a third of them lacked understanding of the concept of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic spread .
“ This figure was quite concerning since the CDC and multiple studies stated that asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission is responsible for more than 50 % of overall COVID-19 outbreaks ,” the researchers stated .
The data also showed that survey participants cited fear of hospitalization as the number one personal health concern across all age groups , while concern for the cost of treatment decreased as age increased . Concerns regarding an associated underlying
Figure 1 : Level of concern for personal health regarding COVID-19 among different age groups
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0 18-20
21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 60 + Age Group
Not concerned Slightly concerned Moderately concerned Very concerned
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