The most effective way to stem the spread of a pandemic such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is social distancing, but the introduction of such measures is hampered by the fact that a sizeable part of the population fails to see their need. Three studies conducted during the mass spreading of the virus in the United States toward the end of March 2020 show that this results partially from people’s misperception of the virus’s exponential growth in linear terms and that overcoming this bias increases support for social distancing. Study 1 shows that American participants mistakenly perceive the virus’s exponential growth in linear terms (conservatives more so than liberals). Studies 2 and 3 show that instructing people to avoid the exponential growth bias significantly increases perceptions of the virus’s growth and thereby increases support for social distancing. Together, these results show the importance of statistical literacy to recruit support for fighting pandemics such as the coronavirus.

阻止大流行如冠状病毒病2019（COVID-19）蔓延的最有效方法是社会隔离，但由于相当大一部分人口没有看到他们的需求这一事实阻碍了采取此类措施。到2020年3月底，该病毒在美国大规模传播期间进行的三项研究表明，部分原因是人们误解了该病毒呈线性增长的指数增长，而克服这种偏见则增加了对社会距离的支持。研究1显示，美国参与者错误地以线性方式感知病毒的指数增长（保守主义者比自由主义者更是如此）。研究2和3表明，指导人们避免出现指数增长偏差，会大大增加人们对该病毒增长的认识，从而增加对社会距离的支持。总之，这些结果表明了统计素养对于争取抗击冠状病毒等大流行病的支持的重要性。