It’s worth pointing out that there’s not a large partisan gap in those reporting a positive COVID-19 test – in most cases the share of Democrats and Republicans who had been infected did not deviate by more than one percentage point. There’s ample evidence that Democrats took public health directives more seriously; however, that may have been offset by the fact that Democratic areas tend to have high population density. Urban areas were especially hard-hit in the early days of the pandemic.
COVID at Church — and the Social Desirability Bias
The survey results do come with some caveats. It’s important to note that this is a survey of self-reported infections, without any independent verification. A concept in public opinion research called “social desirability bias” highlights the tendency of respondents to lie when they are asked a question that is sensitive in nature. As such, the number of people infected may be an underestimate. Also, the data was compiled before the largest spike in COVID-19 infections in early January 2021, and as a result the data captures only those who got infected earlier in the pandemic.
And while the focus here is on church attendance, it’s logical to conclude that individuals who felt comfortable going back to weekend worship were also more willing to engage in other social activities. It is therefore difficult to isolate whether church attendance was the vector that most likely spread the infection, or if a general disposition toward social gatherings drove up the likelihood of testing positive for COVID-19.
Nonetheless, it does seem fair to conclude that those who attended church more frequently in 2020 were also more likely to be infected with COVID-19. There is now plenty of research to suggest that social distancing, avoiding crowds and meeting people only outdoors are mitigation factors when it comes to the spread of the virus – all things that are harder to do in the confines of a church.
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Ryan Burge, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Eastern Illinois University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
