Jones Ritten Chian, Thunström Linda, Cherry Todd, Wulfhorst J D
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA.
Department of Economics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA.
PNAS Nexus. 2022 Nov 4;1(5):pgac247. doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac247. eCollection 2022 Nov.
Mandatory surveillance testing programs are popular policies aimed to control SARS-CoV-2 and may be considered for future epidemics. However, if people believe that testing lowers their risk of infection, such policies could increase risky behavior and may even cause increased pathogen spread. Using data from two US universities, we find that frequent mandatory testing is associated with greater participation in events linked to COVID-19 spread. Women seem to be driving this association, and mediation analyses suggest this is partly due to women's higher perception of COVID-related health risks. Our results show the potential for adverse effects from epidemic control policies, both on average and across population subgroups. Undertaking mitigation measures to reduce such unintended consequences may therefore be important.
强制监测检测计划是旨在控制新冠病毒的流行政策，未来疫情可能会考虑采用。然而，如果人们认为检测能降低他们的感染风险，这类政策可能会增加危险行为，甚至可能导致病原体传播加剧。利用美国两所大学的数据，我们发现频繁的强制检测与更多参与与新冠病毒传播相关的活动有关。女性似乎在推动这种关联，中介分析表明，部分原因是女性对新冠相关健康风险的认知更高。我们的结果显示了疫情防控政策在总体上和不同人群亚组中产生不利影响的可能性。因此，采取缓解措施以减少此类意外后果可能很重要。
