Background
The Duke Forge/Duke University Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) COVID19 Digital Lab commissioned a survey that was conducted for a second time by Clarity+ Campaign Labs (CCL) from April 4-6, 2020 to ask North Carolinians (N=1,426) about their social distancing behavior related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The first survey was conducted from March 29-31, 2020 (N=1,274). The survey will be repeated weekly in order to track any changes in self-reported behavior that may influence the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. All of the responses to the Week 2 survey asked about behavior after the statewide “Stay at Home” order issued by Governor Cooper took effect at 5:00 pm EDT on March 30, 2020.
Full details of the survey methodology, the questionnaire instrument and the data may be accessed and freely used (please see links at bottom under “Additional Resources”).
The survey will be repeated weekly and results updated in order to track any changes in self-reported behavior that may influence the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. For the previous week’s results summary, please click here: Survey of Social Distancing in North Carolina, March 29-31, 2020.
Summary of Results
North Carolinians continue to take social distancing seriously, but some continue to engage in behaviors that can spread the coronavirus. Virtually all North Carolinians answered affirmatively to the question “Are you currently practicing social distancing?” (97% answered “yes” vs 3% who answered “no”) but other questions identify areas of continued risk of spread. On the whole, North Carolinians appear to be taking social distancing seriously, as shown by specific changes in behavior. There is some evidence that these changes are helping to reduce the number of new cases.
One potential note of concern: there was an increase in the number of adults reporting that a child in their household “has interacted in person with other children from a different household in the past 24 hours”: for Week 2, 23% said yes, an increase from the 17% noted the week before. One-third of households reported having at least one child as a member, and this is a potential source of COVID infection spread.
Additional Resources
- Survey instrument is available at this URL: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v0VFBm2jiMe6EnQioihO_QmyaY-BDq6d7bN0yxNHddU/edit
- Source code and data are available on GitHub at this URL: https://github.com/MIDS-at-Duke/duke-social-distancing-survey
- The survey codebook for Week 2 can be accessed at this address: https://forge.duke.edu/sites/default/files/atoms/files/NC_Duke_COVID_19_WK2_20200408.pdf