Frequent mandatory COVID-19 testing may increase risky behavior

Mandatory surveillance testing programs are popular policies aimed to control the spread of SARS-Cov-2. However, if those tested believe that testing protects them from COVID-19, such policies could lead to increased risky behavior that undermines the effectiveness of the policy, and may even increase the spread of the virus. Using data from two large U.S. universities with mandatory testing policies, we find that more frequent mandatory testing is associated with higher participation in events particularly prone to cause COVD-19 spread. Women seem to be driving this relationship, and mediation analyses suggest this is partly due to women’s higher perception of health risks from COVID-19. Our results demonstrate the need to examine the existence of adverse effects from pandemic control policies, both on average and across subgroups in the population, such that, when adopting the policies, measures can be taken to mitigate such unintended consequences.