Abstract The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has plunged the world into a crisis. To contain the crisis, it is essential to build full cooperation between the government and the public. However, it is unclear which governmental and individual factors are the determinants and how they interact on protective behaviors against COVID-19. To resolve this issue, this study built a multiple mediation model and found government emergency public information as detailed pandemic information and positive risk communication had more important impacts on protective behaviors than rumor refutation and supplies. Moreover, governmental factors could indirectly affect protective behaviors through individual factors such as perceived efficacy, positive emotions, and risk perception. These findings suggest that systematic intervention programs for governmental factors need to be integrated with individual factors to finally achieve effective prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic among the public. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.