COVID-19 related messaging, beliefs, information sources, and mitigation behaviors in Virginia: A cross-sectional survey in the summer of 2020

Conflicting messages and misinformation related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic (SARS-CoV-2) have hindered mitigation efforts. To gain insight and inform effective evidence-based public health messaging, we distributed an online cross-sectional survey from May to July, 2020. Among 3,488 respondents, systematic differences were observed in information sources that people trust, events that impacted beliefs and behaviors, and how behaviors changed by socio-demographics, political identity, and geography within Virginia. Characteristics significantly associated (p<0.05) with not wearing a mask in public included identifying as non-Hispanic white, men, Republican, younger age, lower income, not trusting national science and health organizations, believing a non-evidence-based messages, and Southwest Virginia in logistic regression. Similar, lesser in magnitude correlations, were observed for distancing in public. This study can assist decision makers and the public to improve and effectively target public health messaging related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and future public health challenges in Virginia and similar jurisdictions.