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Politicization of COVID-19 and Conspiratorial Beliefs Among Emergency & Public Health Officials

  • Sarah E. DeYoung EMAIL logo und Ashley K. Farmer
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 10. August 2023

Abstract

In this research, we identified how political beliefs impact emergency manager’s perception of COVID-19 severity and risk. Specifically, we gathered data from people with a broad range of roles in emergency management including healthcare, mitigation, response, fire, rescue, and other areas. We asked respondents their beliefs about the severity of COVID-19, their belief in health conspiracy theories, and the public health measures associated with COVID-19 response. Quantitative results showed political affiliation was a predictor for belief in health conspiracies, as well as beliefs about social distancing as a proper mitigation measure for the spread of COVID-19, and that age and years in emergency management were not significant predictors for beliefs in health conspiracies. Qualitative results included several main themes, including frustration about the politicization of COVID-19 response and mitigation efforts, challenges in PPE (personal protective equipment) procurement, tension between public health and emergency management, misinformation about COVID-19, and lack of leadership at the federal level. These findings fill a gap in the literature regarding how political beliefs shape risk, trust, decision-making, and collaboration within emergency management.


Corresponding author: Sarah E. DeYoung, Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice, University of Delaware, Newark, USA, E-mail:

  1. Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest for this research and paper.

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Supplementary Material

This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/jhsem-2021-0072).


Received: 2021-09-17
Accepted: 2023-07-18
Published Online: 2023-08-10

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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