COVID-19 is viewed as severe as tumor and HIV; perceptions towards COVID-19

Since its first emergence, people have been having different attitudes and perceptions towards the COVID-19 pandemic. Perceptions (e.g. perception of disease threat) have profound consequences on behavior (e.g medication adherence). If adequately available, perception studies guide public awareness efforts or help in understanding behavior. In this study , repeated cross-sectional data were collected from 376 randomly selected globally located respondents over two periods. Participants perceived COVID-19 as severe as Tumor and AIDS (F (2,722) = 2.347; p = .096), and as more severe than other 14 illnesses; e.g. Diabetes and High blood pressure. Age-wise, participants above 50 age group perceived COVID-19 as more severe than the under 50 (F (1,240) = 10.378, p < .001). In addition, the magnitude of severity perception was found to be dependent on the different stages of the outbreak in the respondents' corresponding countries. In a gap of a month time, depression surpassed COVID-19 to be perceived as more severe. Majority of respondents attributed COVID-19 as a physical (vs mental) illness, thus considered it as more severe (vs less severe). Implications of this study could mean; (1) COVID-19 patients might be susceptible to social stigmatization as HIV patients, and (2) severity perception is shaping intervention friendly behaviors.