Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jun 19:8:e9428.
doi: 10.7717/peerj.9428. eCollection 2020.

The common personal behavior and preventive measures among 42 uninfected travelers from the Hubei province, China during COVID-19 outbreak: a cross-sectional survey in Macao SAR, China

Chon Fu Lio #  1 , Hou Hon Cheong #  1 , Chin Ion Lei  2 , Iek Long Lo  3 , Lan Yao  4 , Chong Lam  5 , Iek Hou Leong  5
Affiliations

The common personal behavior and preventive measures among 42 uninfected travelers from the Hubei province, China during COVID-19 outbreak: a cross-sectional survey in Macao SAR, China

Chon Fu Lio et al. PeerJ. .

Abstract

Background: The novel coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) caused over 1.7 million confirmed cases and cumulative mortality up to over 110,000 deaths worldwide as of 14 April 2020. A total of 57 Macao citizens were obligated to stay in Hubei province, China, where the highest COVID-19 prevalence was noted in the country and a "lockdown" policy was implemented for outbreak control for more than one month. They were escorted from Wuhan City to Macao via a chartered airplane organized by Macao SAR government and received quarantine for 14 days with none of the individual being diagnosed with COVID-19 by serial RNA tests from the nasopharyngeal specimens and sera antibodies. It was crucial to identify common characteristics among these 57 uninfected individuals.

Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted to extract information such as behavior, change of habits and preventive measures.

Results: A total of 42 effective questionnaires were analyzed after exclusion of 14 infants and children with age under fifteen as ineligible for the survey and missing of one questionnaire, with a response rate of 97.7% (42 out of 43). The proportion of female composed more than 70% of this group of returners. The main reason for visiting Hubei in 88.1% of respondents was to visit relatives. Over 88% of respondents did not participate in high-risk activities due to mobility restriction. All (100%) denied contact with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases. Comparison of personal hygiene habits before and during disease outbreak showed a significant increase in practice including wearing a mask when outdoor (16.7% and 95.2%, P < 0.001) and often wash hands with soap or liquid soap (85.7% and 100%, P = 0.031).

Keywords: Behavior; COVID-19; Handwashing; Lockdown; Mandatory quarantine; Mask; Prevention; SARS-CoV-2; Social distance; Traffic ban.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

    1. Brooks SK, Webster RK, Smith LE, Woodland L, Wessely S, Greenberg N, Rubin GJ. The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence. Lancet. 2020;395(10227):912–920. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chinanews.com Unified purchase of daily supplies by regular assessment in Wuhan community. 2020. http://www.chinanews.com/shipin/cns/2020/02-15/news848064.shtml. [16 April 2020]. http://www.chinanews.com/shipin/cns/2020/02-15/news848064.shtml
    1. Chinazzi M, Davis JT, Ajelli M, Gioannini C, Litvinova M, Merler S, Pastore y Piontti A, Mu K, Rossi L, Sun K, Viboud C, Xiong X, Yu H, Halloran ME, Longini IM, Vespignani A. The effect of travel restrictions on the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Science. 2020;368(6489):395–400. doi: 10.1126/science.aba9757. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Colbourn T. COVID-19: extending or relaxing distancing control measures. Lancet Public Health. 2020;5(5):e236–e237. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30072-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Emanuel EJ, Persad G, Upshur R, Thome B, Parker M, Glickman A, Zhang C, Boyle C, Smith M, Phillips JP. Fair allocation of scarce medical resources in the time of Covid-19. New England Journal of Medicine. 2020;382(21):2049–2055. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsb2005114. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources