Abstract
Regardless of the advocacies made by the media and numerous organizations about the need for preventing the spread of COVID-19, there still exists a gap as far as compliance to regular implementation of the preventive mechanisms within communities is concerned. The purpose of the present study was, therefore, to examine compliance to personal protective behavioral recommendations to contain the spread of COVID-19 among urban residents engaged in the informal economic activities in Wolaita Sodo town, Southern Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study design was used where quantitative data were collected through the survey research method. Three hundred and eighty-four participants of the urban-based informal economy were randomly selected and contacted in their own natural settings with an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data were inserted into SPSS software for analysis that involved both descriptive and inferential statistics, including frequency and percentage distributions, binomial and multinomial logistic regressions. The results of the research indicated that only 35.4% of the respondents regularly wore a mask. In addition, 54.9% of the survey participants disclosed that they do not clean their hands with disinfectants after touching objects under circumstances where they cannot get access to water and soap. Moreover, the most commonly reported reason of respondents for non-compliance to regular wearing of a mask has been its inconvenience or discomfort (62.8%), followed by the need to appear indifferent because most people around them do not wear a mask (25.2%). Furthermore, experiences of the respondents of regularly wearing a mask are significantly associated with regular attendance of the media regarding the preventive mechanisms of COVID-19 (OR = 0.224; P < 0.001; 95%C.I: 0.109–0.460), knowledge of someone ever infected by COVID-19 (OR = 0.402; P < 0.05; 95%C.I: 0.190–0.851), the belief that COVID-19 causes a severe illness (OR = 0.444; P < 0.05; 95%C.I: 0.201–0.980), and perception of the likelihood of dying as a result of infection by COVID-19 (OR = 0.374; P < 0.01; 95% C.I: 0.197–0.711). The authors have found a low level of compliance to the recommended safety measures, especially wearing of masks. It is, therefore, important that continued efforts of raising awareness should be done by all the concerned bodies. Above all, urban safety net programs that aim at keeping such social groups at home, at least during the critical wave of the pandemic, should also be strengthened.
Highlights
It is widely reported that the COVID-19 pandemic has entered a new stage with rapid spread in almost all the countries of the world claiming the lives of more than 3 million people [1]
It is found that 72.3% of research participants believe that COVID-19 really exists in Ethiopia, whereas 56.5% of them believe that COVID-19 exists in the study area
The results of our study have revealed that the experiences of regular mask wearing of the respondents are significantly associated with regular attendance of the media regarding the preventive mechanisms of COVID-19, knowledge of someone ever infected by COVID-19, the belief that COVID-19 causes severe illness, and perception of the probability of dying as a result of infection by COVID-19
Summary
It is widely reported that the COVID-19 pandemic has entered a new stage with rapid spread in almost all the countries of the world claiming the lives of more than 3 million people [1] It is expected, and practically observed in some parts of the world that the healthcare systems face shortages of personnel and medical equipment supplies to treat the critically ill during the pandemic [2]. All members of the society must understand and practice measures for self-protection and for the prevention of transmission of infection to others [5, 6] In developing countries such as Ethiopia where access to COVID-19 vaccine to every citizen is difficult to achieve, the most important way to control the disease among the populations is regular hand washing, regular wearing of face masks, the use of disinfectants, and the prevention of contact with the face and mouth after interacting with the infected environment [7]. In response to the outbreak and spread of COVID-19, many countries have been using a combination of containment and mitigation activities with the intention of delaying major flow of patients and decreasing the demand for hospital beds, including different levels of contact tracing and isolation; avoiding touching of eyes, nose, and mouth; routine cleaning and disinfection of the environment; wearing face mask; social distancing; preparation of health systems for an outpour of severely ill patients who require isolation, oxygen, and mechanical ventilation; strengthening health facility infection prevention and control, with special attention to nursing home facilities; and postponement or cancelation of large-scale public gatherings [5, 6]
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