Presenter: Marlee Odell – Biology
Faculty Mentor(s): Melissa Graboyes
Session: (In-Person) Oral Panel—Covering Covid
Contact tracing and subsequent quarantine of individuals exposed to COVID-19 has been a useful tool throughout the pandemic. While trying to implement such measures, however, it has become clear that some people are hesitant to agree to quarantine, for a variety of reasons. The term “hesitancy” appears in similar areas of public health such as with vaccine hesitancy, however, it has not been defined for COVID-19 quarantine hesitancy. Arising from personal experience as a contact monitor (CM) for the UO Corona Corps, this thesis intended to define COVID-19 quarantine hesitancy and to identify the determinants behind a contact’s hesitancy. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews were conducted with UO Corona Corps CMs about their experience with hesitant contacts. The interviews were thematically analyzed to reveal themes rooted in the firsthand experiences of CMs. This work suggests that COVID-19 quarantine hesitancy is when there is a discrepancy between public health officials’ recommendations and the actions of COVID-19 contacts. In addition, it suggests that there are multiple types of hesitancy and stages in the quarantine process in which they can arise. The thematic analysis also revealed three categories of COVID-19 quarantine hesitancy determinants: situational determinants, personal determinants, and quarantine comprehension. The results from this thesis can help inform future public health work that involves quarantine, whether for COVID-19 or other health issues.