Sociodemographic characteristics determine download and use of a Corona contact tracing app in Germany - results of the COSMO surveys

A substantial percentage of transmissions of SARS-CoV-2 occur through infected persons in the presymptomatic stage or through asymptomatic cases. Mobile applications might have the potential to interrupt transmission chains by tracing and identifying presymptomatic infections, however, persons with poor health, low income or education, and older adults are more likely to have low digital skills and less technical resources but they are also more vulnerable to infection and severe COVID-19 disease. We assessed the sociodemographic characteristics of persons who had or had not downloaded the German Corona Tracing App during its initial deployment. We found that persons with lower educational status and lower income were less likely to download, were less willing to disclose positive test results and less willing to quarantine. This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (BE3970/11-1, BE3970/12-1), Federal Centre for Health Education, Robert Koch Institute, Leibniz Institute of Psychology, Klaus Tschira Stiftung, Thüringer Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft und digitale Gesellschaft and University of Erfurt (no award/grant numbers). notReviewed other