Environmental Risk Perception and Preventive Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Central Taiwan.

Kuo-Wei Hsu,Jen-Chih Chao,Ching-Yi Hsu

doi:10.3390/ijerph18189920

Abstract

Due to traffic and industrial and seasonal air pollution, wearing masks outside the home has long been a daily habit for many people in Taiwan. After the emergence of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which has an incubation period of up to 14 days, wearing masks and maintaining social distancing was advised to reduce exposure to this new environmental risk. This study investigates open and semi-open spaces in three districts in central Taiwan, using a non-participant observation method, with the aim of understanding people’s mask-wearing behavior. The results indicate that mask-wearing rates were higher in urban areas than in rural ones and among females than males. By age cohort, mask-wearing was most prevalent among young adults and middle-aged people and least prevalent among minors, with the elderly occupying a middle position. Masks were also more likely to be worn in semi-open spaces than in open ones. This study enriches our understanding of environmental risk perception of the pandemic and of public perceptions, which are vital to increasing the adoption of preventative measures.

Highlights

Public Health 2021, 18, 9920. https://On 21 January 2020, the first confirmed case of COVID-19 appeared in Taiwan (TCDC, 2021) [1]
Nantun District’s Wenxin Park, the number of people observed on that occasion was 162, of whom 33% were wearing masks
When COVID-19 broke out in Taiwan, public-health messages began to promote the wearing of masks, disinfection, and frequent hand washing; and a national policy of increasing mask production was announced, with the stated aim of enabling citizens to buy a fixed number of masks per week to reduce their odds of being infected with the virus

Summary

Introduction

Public Health 2021, 18, 9920. https://On 21 January 2020, the first confirmed case of COVID-19 appeared in Taiwan (TCDC, 2021) [1]. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) announcement from the same month, common symptoms of the new coronavirus included fever, cough, fatigue, sputum production, smell and taste abnormalities, and diarrhea, and the incubation period—i.e., the time that elapsed between infection and presentation of symptoms—was up to two weeks (WHO, 2020) [2]. This prompted governments in East Asia to impose restrictions, announce social-distancing measures, ban large-scale gatherings, and restrict other activities.

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Conclusion