Public adherence to governmental recommendations regarding quarantine and testing for COVID-19 in two Norwegian cohorts

Background Combatting the COVID-19 pandemic relies at present on non-pharmacological interventions. Governments are using various approaches from general advice to full lockdown. There is a need to describe and understand adherence to public health actions. Methods Participants from two ongoing cohorts, the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and The Norwegian Influenza Pregnancy Cohort (NorFlu), answered questionnaires every 14 days since March 2020. From the summer of 2020, testing for presence of SARS-CoV-2 became easily available. Recommendations were that respiratory symptoms should lead to testing, and that confirmed or suspected COVID-19 should be followed by quarantine. We estimated the adherence to these guidelines in responses from cohort participants in the period August to October 2020. Results Less than 40% of men who were ill and less than 45% of women who were ill, tested themselves for SARS-CoV-2 during the same 14-day periods. Among subjects tested for COVID-19, about 53% of men and 59% of women reported quarantine. For subjects with a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 diagnosis, the proportions quarantined were 65% for men and 72% for women. Conclusions Public adherence to governmental recommendations regarding testing and quarantine were lower than expected in a country with high trust in government. This leaves considerable room for improvement in adherence, possibly reducing the need for more restrictive interventions.