Table 2.

Qualitative coding, coding categories and examples drawn from the data.

Coding category	Child example	Parent example
Germ survival or death	Because soap kills the germs and water kills the germs. Because those two mixed together creates a kind of vaccine that kills germs.	[Washing hands] kills the germs.
Germ replication	Because they can, I think they can mutate -- uh not mutate, multiply.	The virus can multiply in your body until your immune system is able to fight the virus.
Explicit germ movement	Don't shake hands because then it will just make a bridge for COVID to go on.	[Social distancing] prevent you from breathing in virus.
Implicit germ movement	Because they might like cough on you or something and you could get sick from them.	It [mask] provides a barrier from the larger droplets getting in and out.
Folk beliefs	They might be in the rain with the wrong type of clothes and they could, or they could eat too much candy, and get a cold or they could be outside in the winter without winter clothes on and summer clothes on.	Although it may help kill the virus if you drink hot liquids, no food will 100% protect you if you get the virus in your body.
Points of entry	Well, there are like a couple ways for germs to get in through your face like your mouth, your nose, your eyes. And I don't know about it, but I think ears.	Germs on our hands can enter our noses, mouths, eyes and make us sick.
Viruses require a host	No [would not get COVID touching a package that was on a shelf for a week] because the germs would have like aired off the package or probably died because it wouldn't have any source.	[Can kill virus by] Sanitizing and depriving it of a host.
Immune system response	[Why it took a few days for a person to feel sick:] Well because they had to fight the things protecting his body.	The virus can multiply in your body until your immune system is able to fight the virus.
Vaccines as preventive	Vaccines give you a little bit of the dead germs. So, your body will react to it and know how to protect you against the germ in the future.	A vaccine has the potential to provide immunity to some people, the body can “learn” how to protect itself against a version of COVID which can't reproduce.
Vaccines as curative	It [the vaccine] just basically sucks the germs out.	Vaccines are designed to help fight against sickness
Animism	Because the germs don't like soap.	It [COVID virus] seeks out hosts to thrive on.
Undifferentiated illness	Because the soap kills all the bacteria or something.	It depends on how sick they are. Some just need rest while others need antibiotics, steroids.