As housing towers go into total lockdown in Victoria, questions have been raised about why over 10,000 people have refused a COVID test.

As conspiracy theories are bandied about as a possible reason why people would turn away a test, research suggests it may be considerably more complex.

Bridget Haire is a research fellow at the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales and told Gareth Parker people could refuse a test for a range of reasons including not wanting to miss out on casual work shifts or not wanting to deal with the stigma of having the virus.

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