The world has suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic. While it is expected that societies will learn lessons from this experience, knowledge about how people responded to the pandemic in its early stages is very limited. With the aim of urgently providing policymakers with scientific evidence about how to better inform the public about fighting against COVID-19, this study made an initial attempt to assess how people responded to the COVID-19 outbreak during its early stages. Based on a life-oriented approach, this study collected data on a large set of behaviors and attitudes through a nationwide retrospective panel survey conducted in Japan at the end of March 2020, when the country had 1953 confirmed infection cases in total. Valid data were collected from 1052 residents from the whole of Japan, taking into account a balanced population distribution in terms of age, gender, and region. Respondents were asked to report changes in their daily activity-travel behavior, long-distance trips, and other life activities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated factors (information reliability, risk perception, attitudes about policy-making and communications with the public, etc.). Results of both aggregate and modeling analyses (using a structural equation model and a data mining approach) indicate that poor communication with the public may have been closely related to the spread of COVID-19 in Japan, and that effective interventions should be made by focusing on interactions between target persons and close members of their social networks. It is also revealed that differentiated communications are necessary to encourage different types of behavioral changes. Risk communication should be better designed to encourage people to voluntarily modify their needs in life [L] and perform the needed activities [A] at places with sufficient spaces [S] and proper duration of time and at the proper timing [TING]. Such a LASTING approach may be crucial to enhance the effects of massive public involvement in mitigating the spread of COVID-19. The findings from this study are not only useful to tackle the current pandemic, but also have a long-term value for addressing future pandemics.

世界遭受了COVID-19大流行的困扰。预计社会将从这种经验中吸取教训，但是关于人们在早期阶段如何应对大流行的知识非常有限。为了紧急地向决策者提供有关如何更好地向公众宣传对抗COVID-19的科学证据，本研究进行了初步尝试，以评估人们在早期阶段对COVID-19爆发的反应。该研究基于一种面向生命的方法，通过在2020年3月底在日本进行的全国性回顾性面板调查收集了一系列行为和态度的数据，当时该国总共有1953例确诊感染病例。从日本全国1052名居民中收集了有效数据，考虑到年龄，性别和地区的均衡人口分布。要求受访者报告因COVID-19大流行和相关因素（信息可靠性，风险感知，对政策制定的态度以及与公众沟通）导致的日常活动，出行行为，长途旅行以及其他生活活动的变化等）。汇总分析和建模分析（使用结构方程模型和数据挖掘方法）的结果均表明，与公众的不良沟通可能与COVID-19在日本的传播密切相关，因此应通过集中精力进行有效干预目标对象与其社交网络的紧密成员之间的互动。还揭示了差异化的交流对于鼓励不同类型的行为改变是必要的。应更好地设计风险沟通，以鼓励人们自愿改变生活需求[L]并在有足够空间[S]和适当的持续时间和适当的时间[TING]进行需要的活动[A]。这种LASTING方法对于增强公众在减轻COVID-19传播方面的影响至关重要。这项研究的发现不仅对解决当前的大流行有用，而且对解决未来的大流行具有长期价值。应更好地设计风险沟通，以鼓励人们自愿改变生活需求[L]并在有足够空间[S]和适当的持续时间和适当的时间[TING]进行需要的活动[A]。这种LASTING方法对于增强公众在减轻COVID-19传播方面的影响至关重要。这项研究的发现不仅对解决当前的大流行有用，而且对解决未来的大流行具有长期价值。应更好地设计风险沟通，以鼓励人们自愿改变生活需求[L]并在有足够空间[S]和适当的持续时间和适当的时间[TING]进行需要的活动[A]。这种LASTING方法对于增强公众在减轻COVID-19传播方面的影响至关重要。这项研究的发现不仅对解决当前的大流行有用，而且对解决未来的大流行具有长期价值。