In conclusion, the survey provided information about the German population’s perception and knowledge of the coronavirus five months into the pandemic however, participants were younger and more educated than a representative sample. A subgroup analysis showed broad agreement between the subgroups on nearly all issues.

General (cold-like) symptoms, such as “cough” and “fever,” were more widely known than COVID-19-specific ones, e.g., “loss of taste and smell.” The widely promoted individual measures “distancing,” “hygiene,” and “(facial) mask wearing” were rated as highly important, as were the corresponding official measures, e.g., the “distancing rule” and “mask mandate.” However, the “corona warning app” and a “vaccine mandate” were rated as less important. The virus was linked more closely with most synonyms and the discovery in China than with the places of the first larger European outbreaks. Participants completed a questionnaire on various synonyms and symptoms of corona virus and specified the importance they attributed to individual and regulatory measures. Therefore, in August 2020, we conducted an anonymous cross-sectional online survey on these topics in 913 participants in Germany.

To do so, we require information on people’s knowledge and perception of the disease and their opinions about the importance of containment measures. To control the ongoing global pandemic due to SARS-CoV-2, we need to influence people’s behavior.

Have an effect on synonym