Conspiracy theorists less likely to follow COVID-19 safety measures, study finds

In uncertain times, people looking for answers and seeking comfort often come across inaccurate information, also known as conspiracy theories.

During the coronavirus pandemic, experts say these theories can cost people their lives by spreading false public health information.

Now, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania say unconfirmed ideas about the coronavirus are affecting people’s willingness to follow preventive measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing. Their findings come from a two-part national survey of 840 U.S. adults in March, before health officials urged the public to wear face masks, and another in July.

Conspiracy theories are also influencing the public’s decision to get a future vaccine.

In March, those who said they didn’t believe conspiracy theories were 2.2 times more likely to get vaccinated than those who support the theories. In July, that ratio jumped to 3.5.

These theory believers were more likely to doubt the safety of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines as well, which researchers believe likely influenced their “heightened hesitancy to accept a vaccine for COVID-19.”

Some of the conspiracies that have been circulating since March include that the virus was created in a Chinese lab, that health officials are exaggerating about the disease’s danger to hurt President Donald Trump’s reelection efforts and that the pharmaceutical industry created the virus to increase drug sales.

A study on the surveys was published Sept. 21 in the journal Social Science & Medicine.

“Conspiracy theories are difficult to displace because they provide explanations for events that are not fully understood, such as the current pandemic, play on people’s distrust of government and other powerful actors, and involve accusations that cannot be easily fact-checked,” study co-author Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a news release.

In March, 28% of survey respondents said they believe the Chinese government created the coronavirus as a bioweapon, while 24% were convinced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exaggerated about the virus’ danger to hurt Trump. At the same time, 15% believed the pharmaceutical industry created the virus to increase sales.

By July, those who said they believed in the conspiracies increased by 9, 8 and 2 percentage points, respectively.

The belief in COVID-19 theories aligned with mask-wearing; 95% of non-believers who took the surveys said they wear a mask when outside around others while 62% of believers reported doing the same.

“Belief in pandemic conspiracy theories appears to be an obstacle to minimizing the spread of COVID-19,” study co-author Dan Romer, research director of the APPC, said in the news release. “To control the pandemic we need high rates of mask-wearing, physical distancing, and hand-washing now — and of vaccination when a safe and effective [one] is available.”

The researchers also found that “heavy use of conservative media or social media” and being in “historically disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups” was associated with believing in conspiracy theories.

There were no major political divides between believers and nonbelievers when it came to intentions for getting vaccinated, but the July survey found that liberals were more likely to wear face masks than conservatives.

Jamieson said it will take “continued messaging by public health authorities on mainstream media and in particular on politically conservative outlets that have supported COVID-related conspiracy theories” to safeguard against coronavirus misinformation.

Twitter and Facebook have their own efforts to quash misleading or false information on the coronavirus that began in April by labeling posts that contain misinformation, McClatchy News reported, including those coming from the president.