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MP12-01 HEALTHCARE PRACTICES AND PERCEPTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES POPULATION DURING COVID-19: AN IMMEDIATE AND CROSS-SECTIONAL IMPACT STUDY

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Infection control practices and public policy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have shifted healthcare practices towards a telemedicine format, and has resulted in delays or cancelations of in-person and non-emergency care. Our objective was to provide an immediate description of healthcare perceptions/practices of the general U.S. population during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in an effort to inform public health response. METHODS: This was a survey study with U.S. residents recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk, a crowdsourcing platform recruiting minimally compensated participants. Respondents were asked about demographics, COVID-19 knowledge, and ability to access/seek healthcare for both COVID and non-COVID symptoms. Participants (n=1,960) were 70.4% non-Hispanic, 57.8% Caucasian, 68.9% male, 67.8% married, and 75.9% were employed full-time. 76.2% had a stay-at-home order issued for their area of residence. RESULTS: 80.5% of participants felt quarantine was necessary to stop further spread of COVID-19 and reported feeling 'somewhat knowledgeable' (ps <0.001) about COVID-19, with health care workers feeling most knowledgeable (p=0.001). 55.9% of respondents reported feeling at least one symptom of COVID-19, but only 36% sought medical care for those symptoms. Those who had a stay-at-home order were less likely to seek medical treatment (p=0.027). When asked if they would seek medical care if they were feeling ill (non-COVID), 52.1% said 'no:' older adults (p=0.004) and those who considered themselves healthier (p=0.014) were more likely to seek treatment. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first, largesample cross-sectional description of the health care perceptions and practices of the U.S. general population immediately following the peak onset of this unprecedented pandemic.