Background COVID-19 related policies in the USA can be confusing: some states, but not others, implemented mask mandates mid-pandemic, and states reopened their economies to different levels with different timelines after initial shutdowns. Purpose The current research asks: How well does the public’s perception of such policies align with actual policies, and how well do actual versus perceived policies predict the public’s mask-wearing and social distancing behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic? Methods We conducted a preregistered cross-sectional study among 1,073 online participants who were representative of the U.S. population on age, gender, and education on Monday–Tuesday, July 20–21, 2020. We asked participants which locations they visited in the past weekend, and their mask-wearing and social distancing behaviors at each location. We also measured participants’ beliefs about their state’s policies on mask mandate and business opening and obtained objective measures of these policies from publicly available data. Results Perception about the existence of mask mandate was 91% accurate in states with a mask mandate but only 46% accurate in states without one. Perception of state reopening level did not correlate with policy. It was the perceived but not actual state mask mandate that positively predicted both mask-wearing and social distancing, controlling for state COVID-19 cases, demographic factors, and participants’ numeracy and COVID-19 history. Conclusions The public’s perception of state-level mask mandates erred on the side of assuming there is one. Perception of reopening is almost completely inaccurate. Paradoxically, public perception that a mask mandate exists predicts preventive behaviors better than actual mandates.

中文翻译：

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实际和感知的美国 COVID-19 政策与预防行为之间的关联


背景 美国的 COVID-19 相关政策可能令人困惑：一些州（但其他州则不然）在疫情期间实施了口罩强制令，而各州在最初关闭后以不同的时间表重新开放了不同程度的经济。目的 当前的研究询问：公众对此类政策的看法与实际政策的吻合程度如何，以及实际政策与感知政策在预测 COVID-19 大流行期间公众戴口罩和保持社交距离行为的效果如何？方法 我们于 2020 年 7 月 20 日至 21 日星期一至星期二对 1,073 名代表美国人口年龄、性别和教育程度的在线参与者进行了一项预先登记的横断面研究。我们询问参与者他们在过去的周末访问了哪些地点，以及他们在每个地点的戴口罩和保持社交距离的行为。我们还衡量了参与者对其所在州关于口罩强制和商业开放政策的信念，并从公开数据中获得了这些政策的客观衡量标准。结果 在有口罩强制令的州，对是否存在口罩令的准确度为 91%，但在没有口罩令的州，这一比例仅为 46%。对国家重新开放水平的看法与政策无关。正是人们感知到的而非实际的州口罩强制规定积极预测了戴口罩和社交距离，并控制了州内的 COVID-19 病例、人口因素以及参与者的计算能力和 COVID-19 历史。结论 公众对州级口罩强制令的看法错误地认为存在这样的强制令。对重新开放的看法几乎完全不准确。矛盾的是，公众对戴口罩强制令的存在的看法比实际强制令更能预测预防行为。