%0 Journal Article
%@ 1438-8871
%I JMIR Publications
%V 22
%N 11
%P e19768
%T The Public’s Perception of the Severity and Global Impact at the Start of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A Crowdsourcing-Based Cross-Sectional Analysis
%A Shauly,Orr
%A Stone,Gregory
%A Gould,Daniel
%+ Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 1450 San Pablo Street, Suite 415, Los Angeles, CA, United States, 1 323 442 7920, dr.danjgould@gmail.com
%K Amazon Mechanical Turk
%K crowdsourcing
%K COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2
%K pandemic
%K perception
%K public opinion
%K survey
%K severity
%K impact
%K behavior
%K education
%D 2020
%7 26.11.2020
%9 Original Paper
%J J Med Internet Res
%G English
%X Background: COVID-19 is a rapidly developing threat to most people in the United States and abroad. The behaviors of the public are important to understand, as they may have a tremendous impact on the course of this novel coronavirus pandemic. Objective: This study intends to assess the US population’s perception and knowledge of the virus as a threat and the behaviors of the general population in response. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted with random volunteers recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk, an internet crowdsourcing service, on March 24, 2020. Results: A total of 969 participants met the inclusion criteria. It was found that the perceived severity of the COVID-19 pandemic significantly differed between age groups (P<.001) and men and women (P<.001). A majority of study participants were actively adhering to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Conclusions: Though many participants identified COVID-19 as a threat, many failed to place themselves appropriately in the correct categories with respect to risk. This may indicate a need for additional public education for appropriately defining the risk of this novel pandemic. 
%M 33108314
%R 10.2196/19768
%U http://www.jmir.org/2020/11/e19768/
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/19768
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33108314