Table 2.

Stigma and health literacy during the COVID-19 epidemic

Variables	n	%
Stigma towards patients with COVID-19 (N=5039)
Statement closest to your feeling about people with COVID-19
I feel compassion and desire to help	3536	70.2
I feel compassion but tend to stay away from them	1045	20.7
It is their problem and I don’t want to get COVID-19 by trying to help them	29	0.6
I am afraid of them and avoid them because they may infect me	93	1.8
I have no particular feeling	336	6.7
How was patient with COVID-19 usually regarded/treated in your community?
Most people reject him/her	254	5.0
Most people are friendly, but they generally try to avoid	1141	22.6
The community mostly supports and helps him/her	725	14.4
I don’t have the experience	2919	57.9
Stigma towards Wuhan people (n=4628)*
Statement closest to your feeling about Wuhan people
I feel compassion and desire to help	3323	71.8
I feel compassion but tend to stay away from them	883	19.1
It is their problem and I don’t want to get COVID-19 by trying to help them	40	0.9
I am afraid of them and avoid them because they may infect me	74	1.6
I have no particular feeling	308	6.7
How was Wuhan people usually regarded/treated in your community?
Most people reject him/her	475	10.3
Most people are friendly, but they generally try to avoid	1784	38.6
The community mostly supports and helps him/her	2097	45.3
I don’t have the experience	272	5.9
Health literacy (N=5039)
It is difficult for me to find correct and comprehensive information about COVID-19
Strongly disagree	218	4.3
Disagree	1541	30.6
Neutral	1679	33.3
Agree	1230	24.4
Strongly agree	371	7.4
It is difficult for me to understand information I got about COVID-19
Strongly disagree	348	6.9
Disagree	2471	49.0
Neutral	1461	29.0
Agree	587	11.6
Strongly agree	172	3.4

*Participants who lived in Wuhan were automatically exempted from stigma questions related to residents of Wuhan.