Adherence to COVID-19 preventive practice and associated factors among pregnant women in Gondar city, northwest Ethiopia, 2021: Community-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) causes more than five million deaths worldwide. Pregnant women are at high risk for infection due to the physiologic change in the immune and cardiopulmonary system and also it increases the risk of severe disease, intensive care unit admission, and receive mechanical ventilation when compared with non-pregnant women. It is associated with adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. So pregnant women need to have adhered to preventive measures to prevent COVID-19 related consequences. Therefore, this study aimed to assess adherence toCOVID-19 preventive practice and associated factors among pregnant women in Gondar city, northwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July 1st to 30th, 2021, in Gondar city. A cluster sampling technique was employed to select 678 pregnant women. Data were collected using a pre-tested, face-to-face interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data were entered into EPI DATA version 4.6 and exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Both bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis was fitted to identify associated factors. Adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval was used to report the association between covariates and the outcome variable. RESULTS: The prevalence of good adherence to COVID-19 preventive practice was 44.8% (95% CI: 41.3, 48.7). Maternal age (≤24 years) [AOR = 2.89, 95% CI: 1.37, 6.10], maternal education (secondary school) [AOR = 2.95, 95% CI: 1.58, 5.53] and (college and above) [AOR = 4.57,95% CI: 2.42, 8.62], having ANC follow up [AOR = 2.95, 95% CI: 1.35, 6.46] and adequate knowledge towards COVID-19 [AOR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.20, 2.41] were significantly associated with good adherence to COVID-19 preventive practice. CONCLUSION: In this study, adherence towards COVID-19 preventive practice in pregnant women is low. Hence, it is important to strengthen women's awareness about COVID-19 through different media and health education. In addition, empowering women to attain ANC and special consideration should be given to women who had no formal education.

Rural and Urban Differences in COVID-19 Prevention Behaviors.

PURPOSE: To examine whether the adoption of COVID-19-related preventive health behaviors vary in rural versus urban communities of the United States while accounting for the influence of political ideology, demographic factors, and COVID-19 experiences. METHODS: We rely on a representative survey of 5009 American adults collected from May 28 to June 8, 2020. We analyze the influence of rural status, political ideology, demographic factors, and COVID-19 experiences on self-reported adoption of 8 COVID-19-related preventive health behaviors. FINDINGS: Rural residents are significantly less likely to have worn a mask in public, sanitized their home or workplace with disinfectant, avoided dining at restaurants or bars, or worked from home. These findings, with the exception of dining out, are robust to the inclusion of measures accounting for political ideology, demographic factors, and COVID-19 experiences. CONCLUSIONS: Rural residents are significantly less likely to participate in several COVID-19-related preventive health behaviors. This reality could exacerbate existing disparities in health access and outcomes for rural Americans. Health messaging targeted at improving COVID-19 preventive behavior adoption in rural America is warranted.

The Precious Commodity of Time and Sub-Saharan Africa's Success in Keeping COVID-19 at Bay.

Most sub-Saharan African countries acted early and aggressively in response to the WHO COVID-19 warning by closing schools, international borders, limiting domestic travel and restricting large gatherings. The six most populous sub-Saharan African countries, at the beginning of July 2020 with the exception of Republic of South Africa, all had relatively modest COVID-19 case counts compared with European, North and South American and some Asian countries in spite of access to more limited medical resources and technologies. Shutdowns or shelter-in-places were put in place for 5 out of 6 countries surveyed well before the first reported COVID-19 death. Timely action to enact comprehensive public health measures are irreplaceable and cannot be substituted by later use of medical resources or technologies. In the case of Republic of South Africa, earlier and multiple instances of virus introduction may have made infection control much more difficult compared with other sub-Saharan African countries.

Identifying airborne transmission as the dominant route for the spread of COVID-19.

Various mitigation measures have been implemented to fight the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, including widely adopted social distancing and mandated face covering. However, assessing the effectiveness of those intervention practices hinges on the understanding of virus transmission, which remains uncertain. Here we show that airborne transmission is highly virulent and represents the dominant route to spread the disease. By analyzing the trend and mitigation measures in Wuhan, China, Italy, and New York City, from January 23 to May 9, 2020, we illustrate that the impacts of mitigation measures are discernable from the trends of the pandemic. Our analysis reveals that the difference with and without mandated face covering represents the determinant in shaping the pandemic trends in the three epicenters. This protective measure alone significantly reduced the number of infections, that is, by over 78,000 in Italy from April 6 to May 9 and over 66,000 in New York City from April 17 to May 9. Other mitigation measures, such as social distancing implemented in the United States, are insufficient by themselves in protecting the public. We conclude that wearing of face masks in public corresponds to the most effective means to prevent interhuman transmission, and this inexpensive practice, in conjunction with simultaneous social distancing, quarantine, and contact tracing, represents the most likely fighting opportunity to stop the COVID-19 pandemic. Our work also highlights the fact that sound science is essential in decision-making for the current and future public health pandemics.

Rationing social contact during the COVID-19 pandemic: Transmission risk and social benefits of US locations.

To prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), some types of public spaces have been shut down while others remain open. These decisions constitute a judgment about the relative danger and benefits of those locations. Using mobility data from a large sample of smartphones, nationally representative consumer preference surveys, and economic statistics, we measure the relative transmission reduction benefit and social cost of closing 26 categories of US locations. Our categories include types of shops, entertainments, and service providers. We rank categories by their trade-off of social benefits and transmission risk via dominance across 13 dimensions of risk and importance and through composite indexes. We find that, from February to March 2020, there were larger declines in visits to locations that our measures indicate should be closed first.