How do people living near U.S. 280 perceive the pandemic? We sent out an online survey, and 583 people living in Hoover, Mt. Laurel or Chelsea responded.
The survey ran from March 26 until April 5. Out of 583 people who said they near Highway 280, 468 people said they had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (80.3%), and 56 people (9.6%) selected the response "No, but I will as soon as I'm able to." Of the three options, "No" was the least-often selected response — 59 people (10.1%) chose this option.
When respondents were asked if they thought masks prevent the spread of COVID-19, 502 (86.1%) said yes and 81 (13.9%) said no.
The survey also asked respondents where they receive information about the COVID-19 pandemic. Options were social media, news website or app, TV news station, or from friends or family. There was also an option to write in a response. When asked if they think masks prevent the spread of COVID-19, people living near 280 who receive information from medical professionals (they wrote in CDC, UAB, medical professionals) responded "yes" most often. Those who receive information from friends or family responded "no" most often to that question.
A total of 1,309 responses from across Alabama were recorded in this survey. Most of the respondents said they lived in the Birmingham metro area: 43.6% in Hoover, 27.9% in Homewood, 8.2% in Vestavia Hills, 6.9% in Mountain Brook and 5.2% in Birmingham.
When looking at all 1,309 responses, those living near 280 responded to the survey questions in about the same way as those living across Alabama. The 280-area responses had a slightly more often rate of answering "yes" to the question about masks.
Because this survey ended April 5, the data may have changed by the time this article was published.
