Are social distancing, hand washing and wearing masks appropriate measures to mitigate transmission of COVID-19?

Natesan, Manikandan

doi:10.1016/j.vacun.2020.09.001

Cited by 30 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Although the infection and fatality rates remain low, Vietnam has experienced continuous domestic outbreaks of COVID-19 [4]. Given the increasing evidence of efficacy of COVID-19 preventive measures [9,10,[16][17][18][19][20], ensuring community compliance with these preventive measures remains of vital importance [12]. Vietnam has implemented a mass masking policy together with other preventive measures since early 2020 [5,7,18].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Cross-Sectional Study of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Towards Face Mask Use Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic Amongst University Students in Vietnam

2021

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Although Vietnam has been successful in the fight against the first wave of COVID-19, domestic outbreaks have continued to occur. Given university students constitute a significant proportion of the population in Vietnam, to improve the prevention and control of COVID-19 in Vietnam and comparable countries, we examined their knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) towards face mask use which is an important preventive measure and the association between the levels of COVID-19 knowledge and KAP towards face mask use. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on all students studying at Phenikaa University, Hanoi, using a self-developed questionnaire consisted of 42 questions regarding KAP towards face mask use as well as reuse of cloth mask, and COVID-19 knowledge. Among 728 participants, 40.9% (298/728) were male, 63.2% (460/728) were from health-related faculties, 46% (335/728) lived in urban areas, and 51.9% (378) had good levels of COVID-19 knowledge. Regarding face mask, most (89.7%, 653/728) participants had good knowledge scores, 72.8% (530/728) had positive attitudes, and 76.5% (557/728) had good practice scores. The most common types of masks used were surgical mask (57.6%, 419/728), followed by non-antibacterial cloth mask (23.1%, 168/728). Among 168 participants using non-antibacterial cloth mask, 43.5% reused masks (73/168), of whom 6.8% (5/73) did not wash their masks at least daily. Face mask use knowledge was statistically associated with COVID-19 knowledge (P < 0.001). Face mask use attitudes were statistically associated with education levels (P = 0.02), and COVID-19 knowledge (P < 0.001). Practice of face mask use was statistically associated with gender (P = 0.03), geographical distribution (P = 0.04), academic majors (P = 0.02), and COVID-19 knowledge (P = 0.01). The levels of KAP towards face mask use among Vietnamese university students are high. It is important to continue to enforce the mass masking policy, together with the ongoing community education with an emphasis on the route of COVID-19 transmission and how correct face mask use can stop the spread. To ensure the effectiveness of face masks, there is an urgent need to educate the community regarding the procedures for cloth masks re-use.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Cross-Sectional Study of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Towards Face Mask Use Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic Amongst University Students in Vietnam

2021

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“…Thus, cultural roots may conceal the impact of vaccination on people wearing masks and the limitation is discussed in research limitation part. As discussed above, many studies have also confirmed the importance of wearing masks and health-protective measures to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19 (65)(66)(67). Therefore, it is believed that under strict health-protective measures, the risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 is relatively low, and the time of COVID-19 vaccination can be delayed.…”

Section: Estimation Of Participants Selecting the Covid-19 Vaccinementioning

confidence: 94%

Investigating the Links Between Vaccination Against COVID-19 and Public Attitudes Toward Protective Countermeasures: Implications for Public Health

Yao

Zhang

et al. 2021

Front. Public Health

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The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, is spreading globally at an unprecedented rate. To protect the world against this devastating catastrophe, vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 have been produced following consistent clinical trials. However, the durability of a protective immune response due to vaccination has not been confirmed. Moreover, COVID-19 vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is not 100% guaranteed, as new variants arise due to mutations. Consequently, health officials are pleading with the public to take extra precautions against the virus and continue wearing masks, wash hands, and observe physical distancing even after vaccination. The current research collected data from 4,540 participants (1,825 vaccinated and 2,715 not vaccinated) in China to analyze this phenomenon empirically. The propensity score matching (PSM) model is employed to analyze the impact of vaccination against COVID-19 on participants' attitudes toward protective countermeasures. The findings showed that gender, age, education level, occupation risk, individual health risk perception, public health risk perception, social responsibility, peer effect, and government supervision are the main drivers for participants to be vaccinated with COVID-19's vaccines. The results further show that vaccination lessened participants' frequency of hand washing by 1.75 times and their compliance frequency intensity of observing physical distancing by 1.24 times. However, the rate of mask-wearing did not reduce significantly, implying that China's main countermeasure of effective mask-wearing effectively controls COVID-19. Moreover, the findings indicate that a reduction in the frequency of hand washing and observing physical distance could cause a resurgence of COVID-19. In conclusion, factors leading to the eradication of SARS-CoV-2 from the world are complex to be achieved, so the exploration of COVID-19 vaccination and people's attitude toward protective countermeasures may provide insights for policymakers to encourage vaccinated people to follow protective health measures and help in completely defeating the COVID-19 from the globe.

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“…So, many countries in the world have taken precautions against the COVID-19 pandemic, intervened and continue to do so (Kraemer et al, 2020). The most emphasized three steps against the virus are "masks, social distancing, hand hygiene" (Manikandan, 2020). Schools have been the subject of social distancing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of distance English language teaching education during COVID-19 pandemic from the perspectives of ELT student teachers and their instructors

Çoban

Vardar

2021

JPR

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Due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic in the world, all institutions of the society have been severely affected. Some of the consequences of this crisis had both positive and negative effects on certain areas. Among these, education is the one that will have the greatest impact on the future. This paper attempted to determine the perspectives of English language teaching student teachers and their instructors on distance education during COVID-19 pandemic. The participants of the study were 40 senior students from the English Language Teaching department and their 4 instructors from a Turkish state university. Both qualitative and quantitative research models were used in this study. Descriptive analysis was used for qualitative data whereas statistical procedure was applied for quantitative data. A questionnaire and semi-structured interview forms were employed as data collection instruments. The results revealed that student teachers and their instructors have both positive and negative opinions about distance English language teaching education during COVID-19 pandemic. One of the most frequently stated problems with distance education refers to student teachers' experiences of teaching practicum, whereas they had no difficulty in theoretical courses. The positive opinions are regarding time-space flexibility, reviewing lessons by recordings, self-paced learning, affordability, comfort, sharing a wide range of resources, instant feedback, whereas negative opinions are about technical problems, applied courses, lack of social interaction, assessment and evaluation, workload, health problems and low motivation. It is suggested that distance education training for both student teachers and instructors will be useful for future experiences.

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Are social distancing, hand washing and wearing masks appropriate measures to mitigate transmission of COVID-19?

Cited by 30 publications

References 13 publications

A Cross-Sectional Study of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Towards Face Mask Use Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic Amongst University Students in Vietnam

A Cross-Sectional Study of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Towards Face Mask Use Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic Amongst University Students in Vietnam

Investigating the Links Between Vaccination Against COVID-19 and Public Attitudes Toward Protective Countermeasures: Implications for Public Health

Evaluation of distance English language teaching education during COVID-19 pandemic from the perspectives of ELT student teachers and their instructors

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