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. 2020 May:94:139-144.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.04.014. Epub 2020 Apr 10.

Adoption of personal protective measures by ordinary citizens during the COVID-19 outbreak in Japan

Masaki Machida  1 , Itaru Nakamura  2 , Reiko Saito  3 , Tomoki Nakaya  4 , Tomoya Hanibuchi  4 , Tomoko Takamiya  5 , Yuko Odagiri  5 , Noritoshi Fukushima  5 , Hiroyuki Kikuchi  5 , Takako Kojima  6 , Hidehiro Watanabe  2 , Shigeru Inoue  7
Affiliations

Adoption of personal protective measures by ordinary citizens during the COVID-19 outbreak in Japan

Masaki Machida et al. Int J Infect Dis. 2020 May.

Abstract

Objectives: To clarify the implementation status of personal protective measures by ordinary citizens in Japan during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study based on internet-based survey. A total of 2400 people (50% male: 20-79 years) were selected between February 25 and 27, 2020, from registrants of an Internet research company, to complete a questionnaire. Participants were asked to indicate how often they implemented the following five personal protective measures recommended by the World Health Organization (hand hygiene, social distancing measures, avoiding touching the eyes, nose and mouth, respiratory etiquette, and self-isolation). In addition, the participants responded to questions regarding the daily frequency of hand hygiene events.

Results: The prevalence of the five personal protective measures ranged from 59.8% to 83.8%, with the lowest being avoiding touching the eyes, nose, and mouth. In total, 34.7% implemented all personal protective measures. The median daily hand hygiene events were 5 per day (25th percentile, 75th percentile: 3,8).

Conclusions: The protective measures implemented by ordinary citizens are insufficient and further public awareness activities are required.

Keywords: COVID-19; Epidemiology; Outbreak; Prevention; Protective measures; Public health.

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Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
Total cases of COVID-19 in Japan and in other countries (excluding China) at the time of this survey period. Created based on World Health Organization coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) situation reports (WHO, 2020c).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The prevalence of personal protective measures against COVID-19 recommended by the WHO.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The proportion of participants for each total number of implementing personal protective measures. When the participant replied “Always,” “Sometimes,” or “Definitely can” or “Probably can” (in the case of self-isolation) for each personal preventive measure, it was considered that the personal protective measure was being implemented.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Histogram and box plot of the total number of hand hygiene events per day. When the participant replied “Always,” “Sometimes,” for hand hygiene, it was defined that they claimed to practice hand hygiene (under the loose standards)./Box-whisker plot indicates median line, quartile box, and whiskers at 5th and 95th percentile.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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