People wrongly believe their friends will protect them from Covid

Key Facts

A third experiment involved people who had Covid-19 at one point in the pandemic and knew how they got sick after being exposed to Covid.
Conservatives thought the coffee shop would be less crowded and they’d be less likely to get sick if they were going with a friend rather than if they were going with an acquaintance.
“The people who had the clearest boundaries of who is a close friend and who they are distant from show the greatest friend shield effect and feel more invulnerable to Covid,” De Vries said.
“Risk seems less threatening when it’s associated with something positive, like a friend or friends, so it makes sense that going to a favorite coffee shop with friends, even in the height of a pandemic, would feel okay, even if it really isn’t,” said Byrne, an assistant professor of psychology at Clemson University.