AWARENESS ABOUT COVID-19, FACEMASK USE AND COMPLIANCE WITH SAFETY PRECAUTIONS BY A SUBSET OF SOCIAL MEDIA USERS NIGERIA.

Abstract

Background: The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) led to a global crisis because of its ease of transmissibility, asymptomatic transmission, lack of definitive treatment and vaccine. The WHO (World Health Organization) recommended frequent hand washing, use of sanitizers and social distancing as some of the measures to mitigate against its spread. These measures are alien to most of the people. It remains unclear how well the people practice these measures and their knowledge about the COVID-19 disease. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of COVID-19 preventive measures among a subset of Social Media users in Nigeria. Methodology: Cross sectional study in which four hundred and fifty-nine (459 WhatsApp) users were engaged between 01/08/2020 and 30/08/2020 using a questionnaire designed on a Microsoft office form which was completed online and the result sent to a secure server with the researcher. Sampling was convenient, respondents were requested to forward questionnaire to others. Data was collected directly onto Microsoft excel which was now exported to SPSS version 26 for analysis. Quantitative data was expressed as frequency, percentage and mean. Quantitative data were expressed as mean, frequencies and percentages Comparison of means was done by student’s t test while chi square was used for qualitative data. P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age of the participants was 43.33±13.1years. About 95.9% of the participants had good knowledge about COVID 19. The practice of preventive measures with the use of face mask, hand hygiene and social distancing was high (90.6%, 81.8% and 78% respectively). The level of education, employment status and presence of underlying chronic conditions were significantly associated with good knowledge (p =<0.001, 0.003 and 0.021 respectively). Seventy- five percent of the respondents with good knowledge about COVID 19 engaged in preventive measures Conclusion: The subset of media users engaged in this study had good knowledge about COVID-19. They also seemed to engage in appropriate preventive strategies. It will be a good idea to follow up and see if the preventive strategies are maintained after some months into the pandemic Keywords: COVID-19, attitude, knowledge, practice, Nigeria