COVID-19 survivors: How pandemic precautions result in lingering discrimination in China

Abstract

Abstract As the pandemic continues worldwide, do coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) survivors suffer social discrimination or prejudice? Existing scientific studies on COVID-19 survivors focus on the recovery of physical health while paying less attention to mental health and social integration. We investigated whether COVID-19 survivors suffer discrimination in China by examining representative social survey data with an embedded vignette experiment on social interaction in December 2021 during the lockdown in Xi'an (N = 3,046). We found that COVID-19 survivors suffered social discrimination and prejudice. Participants showed significantly lower willingness to socialize with hypothetical COVID-19 survivors. This discrimination effect was pronounced among individuals with high levels of education, social status, and social capital. This is partly due to the scarcity of public knowledge about COVID-19 recovery, which exacerbates the fear of infection in social interactions. Given China’s unique pandemic policies and media environment, the dissemination of information about COVID-19 recovery and risks is crucial, as is the provision of counselling to alleviate the depression and anxiety of COVID-19 survivors.