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To contain the spread of Covid-19, engagement in protective behaviors across the population is of great importance. The present study investigated protective behavior intentions during the early phases of Covid-19 in Germany (February 2–April 3, 2020) as a function of threat level and age using data from 4,940 participants in the EUCLID project. Results indicated that the intention to engage in social distancing increased sharply with threat level. Intentions for personal hygiene also increased, although to a lesser extent. While age only had a small overall effect on behavioral intentions, differential patterns emerged. After the lockdown was introduced, the impact of age decreased for social distancing and hygiene behavior intentions but increased for seeing a doctor. Since containing the Covid-19 pandemic depends on high adoption rates of protective behaviors, future research should track sustained phases of the pandemic, including the easing of restrictions and possible new waves of infections.

Background The outbreak and global spread of COVID-19 was accompanied by an increase in reports of stigmatization of Chinese and Asian-looking people. The behavioral immune system provides a framework for stigmatization in response to infectious disease threats. Specifically, stigmatization might increase with rising levels of infectious disease threat. The present study aimed to examine this hypothesis during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods As part of the “EUCLID” project (https://euclid.dbvis.de), a total of 5011 persons from Germany were surveyed via an online-questionnaire between February 2nd and April 3rd, 2020, covering the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic over three time periods which were defined by critical events. Results There was no evidence for an increase in the stigmatization of Chinese and Asian-looking people across three topics, that is personal proximity, air travel, and medical measures upon arrival from China. Conclusions The present findings provide good news in that participants showed an adaptive response to the infectious disease threat rather than displaying increased stigmatization. Further research is necessary to specify the conditions that increase the risk of stigmatization in response to infectious disease threats.