Association of Individual Behaviors With Infection Prevention Measures and COVID-19 Development: A Japanese Cross-Sectional Study

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people often modified their behaviors and performed individual infection control practices despite the uncertain effectiveness of these in preventing COVID-19. A cross-sectional study using a nationwide internet survey (Japan COVID-19 Society Internet Survey) was conducted from September 2022 through October 2022. The questionnaire consisted of individual-level social distancing behaviors and infection prevention measures, and COVID-19 vaccination status. A multivariate logistic regression was performed to determine factors associated with the diagnosis of COVID-19 in the last 2 months of the survey date. In total, 19,296 respondents were selected for the primary analysis. Of 19,296 respondents, those with COVID-19 diagnosed in the last 2 months were 1,909 (9.9%). Factors independently associated with a recent history of COVID-19 were meeting colleagues in person ≧ 1 per week (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.72, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.36-2.19, P < .001). The response of “never or rarely” to the question of taking out (ie, dining in) foods was marginally associated with a recent history of COVID-19 (aOR 1.27, 95% CI 0.99-1.63, P = .06). Most individual, infection prevention practices and behavioral modifications during the omicron variant phase of the pandemic did not substantially impact COVID-19 prevention in the community.