Table 2.
Sixteen-item knowledge index and percentage correct and incorrect, by knowledge domain, in a survey about COVID-19 (N = 1021), United States, February 28–March 2, 2020a
| Survey question (answer) | Correct | Incorrect | Don’t know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most people who are infected with the coronavirus only have mild symptoms (True)13 | 36.2 | 25.0 | 38.1 |
| Most people who are infected with the coronavirus recover from it (True)13 | 58.8 | 9.7 | 30.8 |
| Most people who are infected with the coronavirus die from it (False)13 | 66.6 | 11.9 | 20.7 |
| People of all racial and ethnic groups can become infected with the coronavirus (True)14 | 88.8 | 2.3 | 8.3 |
| People of all ages can become infected with the coronavirus (True)15 | 90.3 | 2.0 | 6.8 |
| The coronavirus is spread through coughing and sneezing (True)13 | 77.6 | 2.9 | 18.5 |
| The coronavirus is very contagious (True)13 | 82.1 | 3.0 | 14.1 |
| Antibiotics can be used to treat the coronavirus (False)16 | 45.6 | 14.4 | 39.3 |
| Antibiotics can be used to prevent infection from the coronavirus (False)16 | 57.2 | 7.0 | 34.9 |
| A vaccine is now available to prevent infection from the coronavirus (False)16 | 68.3 | 4.1 | 26.9 |
| You can become infected with the coronavirus by touching a package sent from China (False)15 | 42.8 | 13.2 | 43.1 |
| The coronavirus was deliberately created (False)17 | 43.2 | 11.7 | 44.4 |
| Spraying alcohol or chlorine on your body kills the coronavirus (False)15 | 48.7 | 6.4 | 43.9 |
| Rinsing your nose with saline prevents infection from coronavirus (False)15 | 52.2 | 3.7 | 43.4 |
| Hand dryers are effective at killing the coronavirus (False)15 | 59.1 | 4.3 | 35.7 |
| Eating garlic can lower your chances of getting infected with the coronavirus (False)15 | 62.6 | 2.9 | 33.7 |
aData source: RTI International–funded survey on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). All values are percentages. Some percentages do not sum to 100 because of rounding. Overall mean knowledge index score is 61.7% correct (95% CI, 59.9%-63.4%).