Misinformation on COVID-19 origin and its relationship with perception and knowledge about social distancing: A cross-sectional study

Despite the vast scientific evidence obtained from the genomic sequencing of COVID-19, controversy regarding its origin has been created in the mass media. This could potentially have a long-term influence on the behavior among individuals, such as failure to comply with proposed social distancing measures, leading to a consequent rise in the morbidity and mortality rates from COVID-19 infection. Several studies have collected information about knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding COVID-19; however, very little is known about the relationship of the perceptions of the individuals regarding the origin of the virus with the knowledge and perception about social distancing. This study aimed at ascertaining this relationship. For such purpose, a web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among a sample population from five provinces of the Dominican Republic from June to July of 2020. The data collection instrument exploited in the study was a self-designed questionnaire distributed throughout different social media platforms. A purposive sampling strategy was implemented and a total of 1195 respondents completed the questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS. Descriptive statistics, stepwise multiple linear regression, and one-way multivariate analysis were implemented to test the hypotheses. The level of education was significantly associated (P = .017) with individuals’ perception about the origin of COVID-19, whilst only age (P = .032) and education level (P < .001) statistically significantly predicted ‘knowledge about social distancing’. Perception of COVID-19 origin was statistically significant associated (P = < .001) with the measures of the dependent variables (knowledge and perception on social distancing). The present study has established a possible link between the ‘perception of COVID-19 origin’ and ‘the perception and knowledge about social distancing’.

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The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted October 8, 2020. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.06.20207894 doi: medRxiv preprint 3 ABSTRACT 35 Despite the vast scientific evidence obtained from the genomic sequencing of COVID-19, a 36 controversy regarding its origin has been created in the mass media. This could potentially have 37 a long-term influence on the behavior among individuals, such as failure to comply with 38 proposed social distancing measures, leading to a consequent rise in the morbidity and mortality CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

(which was not certified by peer review)
The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted October 8, 2020. and popularly disseminated theories that established that the virus "leaked from a laboratory in 87 Wuhan" and is probably a product of genetic manipulation in an effort to discover a vaccine for CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted October 8, 2020.  Duarte. The study area was chosen due to the significant mortality trend from COVID-19 123 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

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The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted October 8, 2020. The data collection instrument exploited in the study was a short and precise web-based self-  is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

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The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted October 8, 2020. (MLR) was adopted to estimate the perception of COVID-19 origin using selected 156 sociodemographic variables (gender, age, educational level and income) as predictor variables. 157 Further, one-way multivariate analysis of variance (one-way MANOVA) was performed to 158 determine whether any differences existed between independent groups on more than one 159 continuous dependent variable. The dependent variables were described as 'perception and 160 knowledge on social distancing' and the independent variable was 'perception of COVID-19 161 origin'. For the purpose of the present study, a P value less than 0.05 at 95% confidence interval 162 (P < 0.05) was deemed statistically significant.  . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

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The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted October 8, 2020. Perception and knowledge about the origin of COVID-19 188 Questions regarding perception about the origin of COVID-19 among the study participants 189 (Table 2) were assigned values on a five-point Likert scale format (1-mostly false, 2-false, 3-190 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

Response, n(%) 95% CI
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The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted October 8, 2020.

distancing" and "perception of COVID 19 origin"
237 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

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The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted October 8, 2020. This study further estimated the relationship between the "perception of COVID 19 origin" and 238 "knowledge and perception on social distancing". The dependent variables were described as 239 "knowledge and perception on social distancing" and the predictor variable or the independent 240 variable was documented as "perception of COVID 19 origin". A P value of less than 0.05 (P < 241 0.05) was considered statistically significant. 242 Using an alpha level of 0.05 (95% confidence interval), we observe that the MANOVA test  Table 4.  . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

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The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted October 8, 2020. Since the MANOVA test was significant, we then examined the univariate ANOVA results to 255 look at the association between the awareness of social distancing and the origin of COVID-19.  Table 5.  . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

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The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted October 8, 2020.  The results of the study indicate that the majority of the participants' perception is 'COVID-19 279 emerged from genetic manipulation by scientists within a laboratory in Wuhan, China, whose 280 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

(which was not certified by peer review)
The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted October 8, 2020. CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) 1 9 perception about social distancing. Further studies are necessary to be conducted to help clarify 326 these surprising findings.

328
A web-based approach was adopted for the purposes of collecting data from the participants. 329 Hence the data collection was made through varied social media platforms which is relatively  CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted October 8, 2020.

368
. CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted October 8, 2020. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.06.20207894 doi: medRxiv preprint