By mid-March 2020, most countries had implemented nationwide lockdown policies aimed at decelerating the spread of SARS-CoV-2. At that time, nobody knew how long these policies would have to remain in force and whether they would have to be extended, intensified or made more flexible. The present study aimed to illuminate how the general public in Germany reacted to the prospect of increasing the length, the intensity and/or the flexibility of distancing rules implied by different lockdown scenarios. Endorsement of and compliance with five specific lockdown scenarios were assessed in a large (N = 14,433) German sample. Results showed that lockdown length affected respondents' reactions much more strongly than intensity or flexibility. Additional analyses (i.e., mixture distribution modelling) showed that half of the respondents rejected any further extensions or intensifications, while 20% would endorse long-term strategies if necessary. We argue that policy-makers and political communicators should take the public's endorsement of and compliance with such scenarios into account, as should simulations predicting the effects of different lockdown scenarios.

中文翻译：

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公众接受 Covid-19 锁定方案

到 2020 年 3 月中旬，大多数国家都实施了全国封锁政策，旨在减缓 SARS-CoV-2 的传播。当时，没有人知道这些政策要持续多久，是否需要延长、加强或变得更加灵活。本研究旨在阐明德国公众对增加不同封锁情景所暗示的距离规则的长度、强度和/或灵活性的前景有何反应。对五种特定锁定方案的认可和遵守情况进行了评估（N = 14,433) 德国样本。结果表明，与强度或灵活性相比，锁定时间对受访者反应的影响要大得多。额外的分析（即混合分布模型）表明，一半的受访者拒绝任何进一步的扩展或强化，而 20% 的人会在必要时支持长期战略。我们认为，政策制定者和政治传播者应考虑公众对此类情景的认可和遵守情况，模拟预测不同锁定情景的影响也应如此。