OBJECTIVES: Due to its major impact on the health care system the COVID-19 pandemic also influences social relationships actual behaviour. Vice versa, social attitudes and behaviours condition the success of health policies. Since the beginning of the pandemic the Austrian authorities have responded with various decisions regarding social distancing. The central issue of the presentation deals with the question about the relation between measures concerning social distancing, the perception of these measures and actual contact behaviour. *** METHODS: In a representative panel survey as part of ‘CoMix’ study that follows households across Europe in real-time over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic from December 2020 to April 2021 participants are asked in 7 waves about their awareness, attitudes and behaviours in response to COVID-19. Participants record face-to-face contacts made on the previous day, specifying certain characteristics for each contact including the age and sex of the contact, whether contact was physical (skin-to-skin contact), and where contact occurred (e.g. at home, work, while undertaking leisure activities, etc). The study design allows to measure changes in behaviour and attitudes over time. *** RESULTS:
During the first wave, 1554 participants took part in the survey, divided among 798 males (51.4%) and 753 females (48.5%). The number of participants has decreased to 586 in the last wave (wave 7). The average number of contacts in the respective waves showed a marked reduction compared with pre-pandemic data. During the entire research-period the average number of contacts per person decreased from 4.59 in December 2020 to 2.72 in April 2021. The largest number of contacts took place within the respective own age cohort. In terms of adherence only 3 % of the participants reported that they do not apply to the COVID-19 measures. For participants who are 70 years or older the main reason to adhere to the COVID-19 measures is to protect themselves (69 %), whereas in the group of participants who are 18-29 years old the strongest motive is to protect their social environment (53 %). *** DISCUSSION: In the context of contact behaviour it shows that personal contacts have about halved compared to pre-pandemic times, which indicates that the measures in place do lead to fewer contacts. It reveals intergenerational differences in the motivations to adhere to health policy measures during the pandemic. Adherence to measures is stronger when people are aware of the reason why they are implemented The perception of measures is also strongly associated with the average number of contacts. The interplay of social and health-related dynamics need to be taken into account for successful crisis management.