Compliance of the General Population to Precautionary Measures During the Early Waves of COVID-19 in Alexandria, Egypt

Abstract

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, countries that imposed regulations on activities related to gatherings, transportation and personal precautionary measures have reported reduced surging of COVID-19 cases. The degree of people’s adherence to these precautionary measures was variable between countries. Aim: To assess the compliance of a sample of Alexandrian residents with the precautionary measures against COVID-19 during the first and second waves of the pandemic. Methods: This cross-sectional study comprised 715 participants of the general population from Alexandria who were invited to fill out a pre-designed self-reported questionnaire entailing compliance to precautionary measures. Data on SARS-CoV2 spike antibodies were obtained.Results: Hand hygiene was the most practiced preventive measure (91.3%), followed by wearing masks (59.2% self-reported to “always” wear a facemask outdoors). Regarding the frequency of practicing physical distancing, only 37.6% reported to “always” abide to it. More individuals used public transportation as opposed to taxis (34.9% compared to 9.8% respectively, p <0.01). There were differences among participants from different districts regarding most of the studied preventive measures as well as vaccine acceptance and COVID-19 diagnosis rates. Multivariate regression analysis showed that among all the investigated social practices, the use of public transport was the only significant predictor for SARS-CoV-2 antibody seropositivity [OR(95% CI; LL-UL)=2.763(1.745-4.373, p <0.001). Conclusions: The studied sample displayed better compliance to hand washing than to wearing face masks, while fewer participants practiced physical distancing. Using public transportation was the only predictor of seropositivity among all the studied risk factors. Alexandrian districts showed differences between their residents in the studied parameters.