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A A recent University of Utah study It found that 4 in 10 Americans were unaware of their COVID-19 status and/or did not follow public health measures during the outbreak.
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In an online survey, 41% of 1,733 adults reported misrepresenting or not complying with at least 19 behaviors, the most common of which was lying to insiders or someone they plan to have close contact with about COVID-19 prevention measures.
The results also show that nearly 47% were unvaccinated at the time of the survey, indicating that this behavior is a major public health challenge.
“This possibility highlights the importance of honesty and respect in these situations, as well as the need for further research to explore strategies to educate the public to address the issue (eg, the burden of neutrality, believing that COVID-19 is not real). The report was read. It also highlights the importance of increasing the confidence and participation of public health officials, policy makers and the media in these public health measures to reduce the incidence and impact of misinformation and non-adherence.
Utah public health officials said they were concerned about the results and political ideologies that could create distrust in the public health message.
“Throughout this epidemic, unfortunately, we’ve had a mix between health and politics, health and government control,” said state epidemiologist Dr. Lisha Nolen. “We have people who feel the need to not tell the truth and to fill some narrative and present a different face than what they’re doing at home and what they’re doing in their lives. And that’s really worrying.
As public health officials, we’re here to make sure people are healthy in whatever way it needs to be. Apart from this, we have no political agenda. We want to protect people’s health. It’s really worrisome that that’s not just for Covid, but that it could bleed into other areas of health and public health.
Nolen added that it’s important for people working in public health, including the CDC and states, to remember that epidemiologists are not politicians but are working to protect the community from disease.
according to Data According to Johns Hopkins University, Utah’s rate of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 recently dropped to its lowest since April, with 1,881 new cases in the 7-day period ending Oct. 2. Utah ranks 7th among states with the slowest spread of the coronavirus per capita.
Nolen likens those results to the state’s vaccination program. Vaccines are placed in high-profile, accessible locations such as grocery stores in communities with low uptake. The region has employed community health workers to spread the services to underserved areas.
“The Pacific Island community is a very strong community here in Utah, but unfortunately it’s not connected to the public health system,” Nolen said. “So we went out and got people who are really good representatives from the Pacific Island community and got them to work with their community, vaccinate and protect them. I think that’s a really good success and something we hope to build on going forward, not just with Covid.”
She said that working with local communities, understanding their beliefs and values ​​and informing them of the importance of vaccination contributes to the region’s efforts to prevent the disease. Using one message does not work for all communities and she emphasized the importance of public health authorities working together to promote vaccination uptake.
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