Fig. 1

Change in mean score of attitudes toward the COVID-19 outbreak between the two rounds (N = 563 and N = 511 in February & March 2020, respectively). Mean score is computed from a range of 1 (“Not at all”) to a maximal score of 5 (“very much”). All changes are statistically significant at the p < .001 level. The items presented refer to the extent to which a respondent reported: (a) watching the news (“News consumption”), (b) being worried about COVID-19 (“Worry”), (c) an elevated sense of public panic (“Public panic”), and (d) trust in the regulations published by the Ministry of Health (“Trust in MOH”)