To what extent physical distancing and other COVID-19 preventive measures being implemented among people in Arba Minch town, Southern Ethiopia: exploring evidences for an urgent call for action?

  1. Mekuria Asnakew Asfaw
  2. Tsegaye Yohannes
  3. Chuchu Churko
  4. Alemayehu Bekele
  5. Teklu Wegayehu

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Abstract

Background

The number of confirmed Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases surge substantially in resource-poor settings within the fragile health system. Since there are no proven vaccine and treatment in place against the disease, controlling strategy mainly rely on preventive measures. However, data on the extent of implementing physical distancing and other preventive measures were under estimated. This study, therefore, investigated these gaps among people in Arba Minch town, southern Ethiopia.

Methods

We conducted a community based cross-sectional study in Arba Minch town; from 15-30 June 2020. Data were collected using interviewer administered questionnaire and checklist. Then, data were cleaned, coded and entered to EpiData version 4.4.2, and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis.

Results

Of the total participants (459), 43.6% achieved above the mean score (6±1.97) on preventive measures of COVID-19. Only 29.8% of participants kept the recommended physical distance, and surprisingly, in all public gathering places the distance was not kept totally. In addition, of the total participants, only 37.7% had face-mask use practice; 20.5% had hand sanitizer use practice, and 13.1% were measuring their body temperature every two weeks. Moreover, 42.5% of participants avoided attendance in public gatherings; 44.7% stopped touching their nose, eye and mouth; 55.6% practiced stay-at-home; and 60% had frequent hand washing practice. Majority of participants (66.7%) practiced covering their mouth and nose while coughing or sneezing; 68.2% had treatment seeking behavior if they experience flue like symptoms; 69.1% practiced isolating themselves while having flue like symptoms; and 89.3% avoided hand shaking.

Conclusions

The findings of this study suggest that physical distancing and other COVID-19 preventive measures were inadequately implemented among people in Arba Minch town. Thus, an urgent call for action is demanding to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 as early as possible before it brings a devastating impact.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.08.11.20173211: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    NIH rigor criteria are not applicable to paper type.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Statistical analysis: Data were edited, coded and entered to Epidata version 4.4.2 and exported to SPSS version 25 software.
    SPSS
    suggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    While interpreting data presented in this study, the following limitations need to be considered. First, findings are relied on self-reported practices of participants. Second, people may report as they were implementing preventive measures due to social desirability.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We found bar graphs of continuous data. We recommend replacing bar graphs with more informative graphics, as many different datasets can lead to the same bar graph. The actual data may suggest different conclusions from the summary statistics. For more information, please see Weissgerber et al (2015).

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.08.11.20173211v1 on medRxiv