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PONE-D-20-05428

Perceptions of the Adult US Population regarding the Novel Coronavirus Outbreak

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Omer,

Thank you very much for submitting your manuscript "Perceptions of the Adult US Population regarding the Novel Coronavirus Outbreak" (#PONE-D-20-05428) for review by PLOS ONE. As with all papers submitted to the journal, your manuscript was fully evaluated by academic editor (myself) and by independent peer reviewers. The reviewers appreciated the attention to an important health topic, but they raised substantial concerns about the paper that must be addressed before this manuscript can be accurately assessed for meeting the PLOS ONE criteria. Therefore, if you feel these issues can be adequately addressed, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process. We can’t, of course, promise publication at that time.

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Kind regards,

Abdallah M. Samy, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: No

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: The current manuscript McFadden, et al., (2020), demonstrated perceptions regarding Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in which the first appearance was in Wuhan, China causing pandemics globally recently. So, the research objectives are too important to increase the awareness and intention to easy control COVID-19 not only in US but also globally. The manuscript language is well written. The article comprises CloudResearch survey using an electronic questionnaire which in my opinion, participants easy to involve and finish the form. But, the drawbacks of this type of online consent maybe lack accuracy, ensuring comprehension and verifying identification.

Minor Comments:

1. In abstract line 1: please add Coronavirus Disease 2019 as a definition for COVID-19.

2. In abstract line 2: the risk of infection in US, I think now changed to high due to pandemic declaration (also amend in all manuscript).

3. In Background page 3, line 1: the countries infected by COVID-19 need update according to the latest WHO report (not 28 countries).

4. In Background paragraph 1: please add a sentence contain the actual numbers of infections and mortality rates globally and in US with recent reference.

5. In page 5 and 6, Figure 1, 2: there are no error bars and the statistically significant marks, also describe the statistical parameters used in analysis (type parameters in Legends).

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Reviewer #1: No

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Perceptions of the Adult US Population regarding the Novel Coronavirus Outbreak

PONE-D-20-05428R1

Dear Dr. Omer,

We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript, "Perceptions of the Adult US Population regarding the Novel Coronavirus Outbreak" (PONE-D-20-05428R1), has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it complies with all outstanding technical requirements.

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With kind regards,

Abdallah M. Samy, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE