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Higher trust in public health agencies during COVID-19 driven more by beliefs that agencies led with clear, science-based recommendations and provided protective resources, than by beliefs that agencies controlled outbreak

In the first nationally representative survey of U.S. adults on reasons for trust in federal, state, and local public health agencies’ information during the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers found that high levels of trust were not primarily due to people believing agencies had “done a good job” controlling the spread of COVID-19, but rather to public beliefs that agencies communicated clear, science-based recommendations and provided protective resources, such as tests and vaccines. The survey found that lower levels of trust were primarily related to beliefs that health recommendations were influenced by politics or corporations, or were conflicting.