Social capital in a time of uncertainty: A case study of COVID-19 in Maharashtra state, India

Abstract

A novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was reported in India in late January 2020, less than 50 days after the first case was reported in Wuhan, China. Knowingly or unknowingly, almost all aspects of humankind around the world are affected, including physical, mental, and financial aspects. We set out to investigate how local communities take preventive action and have a meaningful role in dealing with these impacts of COVID-19. This community role is absolutely based on trust, regular communication, and social networking among community members. We collected data from India to determine whether the community-level response to COVID-19 during the peak phase of the pandemic (January 1st to February 1st, 2021) depended on the level of social capital. The source of information on COVID-19 is one of the significant issues during the pandemic. People prefer to depend on and trust family members, who represent the only trustworthy source of information irrespective of where they bring the information. In general, regular participation in local activities plays a major role in preventing COVID-19 at the local level.