Table 2.

ICU beds occupancy rate and trust in health experts and scientists.

	Trust in health experts
	1	2	3	4
Closest ICU: occupancy rate (Feb 2020)	−0.221**	−0.207**	−0.227**	−0.230**
	[0.0931]	[0.0922]	[0.087]	[0.089]
ICU per 1000 people (Feb 2020)	0.328* [0.191]	0.250	0.158	0.207
		[0.195]	[0.203]	[0.224]
COVID-19 poses major risk	0.017	0.022	0.054	0.053
	[0.033]	[0.033]	[0.033]	[0.033]
Knows someone with COVID-19	0.055	0.049	0.027	0.027
	[0.037]	[0.037]	[0.037]	[0.037]
COVID-19 deaths per 1000 people	−0.114	−0.146	−0.199	−0.180 [0.150]
	[0.134]	[0.132]	[0.126]
Oct 2019 vaccination attitudes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Demographic controls	No	No	Yes	Yes
Local Authority characteristics	No	No	No	Yes
R2	0.011	0.032	0.071	0.072
Mean dep var	0.418	0.418	0.418	0.418
Observations	1017	1017	1017	1017

Notes: The table reports OLS estimates of the following regression.

Trust_i = β₀ + β₁ OR_i + β₂ ICU_i + β₃ COVID-19 Risk_i + β₄ COVID-19 Exposure+ β₅ COVID-19 Deaths_i + β_X X_i + u_i

Where Trust is an indicator variable = 1 if respondent reports “a great deal of trust” in health experts and scientists, OR is the occupancy rate of ICU beds in the NHS trust that is closest to the zip code where the respondent lives, ICU is the number of ICU beds per 1000 people in the local authority where the respondent lives, COVID-19 Risk is an indicator variable = 1 if the respondent states that COVID-19 poses a major risk to either himself or someone living in his household, COVID-19 Exposure is an indicator variable = 1 if respondent knows someone infected with COVID-19 and COVID-19 Deaths is the number of COVID-19 deaths per 1000 people in the local authority as of 10 April 2020. Col. 1 includes only these covariates. Col. 2 includes the answers to 3 questions on vaccination attitudes asked in October 2019: “should unvaccinated kids be allowed to attend school?” “should parents who choose not to vaccinate their kids be banned from childcare benefits?” and “should parents who choose not to vaccinate their kids be fined?“. For each of these questions, we create an indicator variable = 1 if the respondent stated that he would punish parents who choose not to vaccinate their kids, showing support for measures promoting vaccination. Col. 3 adds a gender indicator variable, 3 age groups dummies (18–34; 35–54 and 55+), an indicator variable for high social status (level A-C1 in the NRS classification) and 3 education dummies (low, mid, and high level). Col. 4 adds characteristics of the local authority where the individual lives: the share of people above 65 years old and the life expectancy at 65 for both men and women. The sample includes all respondents re-contacted in April 2020 and living in England. Standard errors are clustered at the level of the local authority (269 clusters).