Coronavirus Disease and the Shared Emotion of Blaming Others: Reviewing Media Opinion Polls During the Pandemic

In Japan, the revised Infectious Diseases Control Law1 and other amending acts, passed in February 2021, newly stipulates administrative penalties for those who refuse hospitalization and testing and those who do not comply with shortened business hours when required. Considering that Japan’s countermeasures against infectious diseases rely on individual voluntary behavioral changes, this revision of the law may become one of the major turning points for such countermeasures. Introducing penalties as a response to a pandemic should be considered with great caution. Individual behaviors are not determined solely by personal preferences,2 and harsh criticisms against individuals deemed non-compliant by the general population can lead to the alienation of patients and infected individuals and be inappropriate for infectious disease control.3 Therefore, we agree with the Japan Epidemiological Association,4 which states that great care must be taken when asking individuals to take excessive responsibility as a countermeasure against infectious diseases. Nevertheless, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, frequent cases of individuals defaming those who acted differently and denouncing infected persons were observed in Japan.5 Studying how societal emotions are affected by individual responsibilities and their dynamics is important, especially when supporting or guiding individuals unable to comply with countermeasures against infectious diseases. It is also important for epidemiologists to understand the punitive emotions that allow the legalization of penalties for controlling diseases to gain lessons for future pandemics. On the other hand, in the case of the current pandemic, especially when the situation is progressing rapidly and dynamically, it is difficult to conduct well-designed academic surveys to understand the dynamics of people’s emotions in a timely manner. Hence, we tried to infer the reactions of the public based on existing opinion polls, while paying attention to question content consistency and methodology of them. We collected data from opinion polls conducted by major Japanese media firms from January 2020 to January 2021, including questions related to the introduction of penalties as countermeasures against COVID-19, as well as information on the survey period, method, and target population. These 12 opinion polls were conducted during the following periods: Yomiuri-NNN: April (a) and June (c) 2020, January (g, m) 2021; TBS-JNN: May (b) 2020, January (f ) 2021; Asahi: November (d, e) 2020, January (l, q) 2021; NHK: January (i) 2021; Kyodo: January (h) 2021; Mainichi-SSRC: January (n) 2021; ANN: January ( j, o) 2021; and Fuji-Sankei: January (k, p) 2021. The average number of respondents in each survey was 1,441 (minimum: 520; maximum: 2,187). The survey periods were largely divided into April to June 2020 (first phase), November to early December 2020 (second phase), and January 2021 (third phase). The first phase included the period from the declaration of the state of emergency in Japan, the first wave of COVID-19 cases (April 2020), and the end of the state of emergency (June 2020). Thereafter, in Japan, the number of COVID-19 cases increased to more than double by August (the second wave); however, opinion polls were not conducted during this period. The second phase encompassed the beginning of the third wave. The third phase corresponded to when the number of cases continued to increase, and the second state of emergency was declared. From these opinion polls, we identified a total of 17 questions related to respondents’ approval or disapproval of introducing penalties. The details of each question were obtained from Yomiuri-NNN,6 TBS-JNN,7 Asahi,8 NHK,9 Mainichi-SSRC,10 ANN,11 and Fuji-Sankei.12 Kyodo News reported the survey methods in related newspapers (eg, Shimotsuke Shinbun13), and detailed questions were obtained via direct inquiry (January 26, 2021). Among the questions, 12 related to restrictions on the actions of citizens and businesses (eTable 1), and 5 to infected persons (eTable 2). The responses regarding the introduction of penalties were categorized into “positive” and “negative” and arranged chronologically. We also reviewed the clarity of the questions, the neutrality of the choices, and the transparency of the respondent information. As a result of the review, we identified two characteristics related to the transition of people’s punitive emotions. First, trends in supporting the introduction of penalties were not always proportional to the number of cases (Figure 1). According to the results of surveys “a” and “b”, public support for penalizing residents and businesses that did not actively cooperate with stay-at-home requests peaked in April and May 2020. The rise in