Karra and Colleagues Release First Round Results of COVID-19 Survey
According to the early results of a national web survey on COVID-19 symptoms and responses, older people are having significantly fewer close contacts than younger people. The survey also finds that people experiencing shortness of breath are practicing more intense social distancing, but those with two other common COVID-19 symptoms – fever and dry cough – are not engaging in greater social distancing, suggesting that increased targeting on relevant symptoms, and messaging, may be required.
The team that conducted and just released the preliminary results of the survey include Mahesh Karra, Assistant Professor of Global Development Policy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and Associate Director of the Human Capital Initiative at the Global Development Policy Center (GDP Center). The research team that designed and conducted the survey also includes Dr. David E. Bloom, Dr. David Canning, and Rashmi Dayalu at the Program on the Global Demography of Aging (PGDA) at Harvard University.
The purpose of the ‘COVID-19 Symptoms & Social Distancing Web Survey’ is to gather information on the prevalence of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) symptoms and social distancing behavior from the general U.S. population. The results from this survey will be used for academic research in order to help public health specialists and policymakers recommend effective measures over the coming days.
The first round of results can be found here.
From the survey results:
About 52 percent of the adult United States population went out of their home the previous day. On average, adults had close contact with 1.9 non-household members. We find that having at least one COVID-19 symptom (fever, dry cough, or shortness of breath) increased the likelihood of going out the previous day and having additional close contacts with non-household members; however, the estimates were not statistically significant.
Mahesh Karra is an Assistant Professor of Global Development Policy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. His academic and research interests are broadly in development economics, health economics, quantitative methods, and applied demography. He is also affiliated with the Human Capital Initiative at the Global Development Policy Center (GDP Center), a Pardee School’s affiliated center with a university-wide research mandate.