Achieving a Covid-19 Free Country: Citizens Preventive Measures and Communication Pathways

Abstract

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread on a global scale in an extremely short time, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths, and, at the same time, triggering extreme panic. Prevention in medicine is considered the best protection action for individuals in order to avoid infections. This study investigates whether Greek citizens (N = 3359) take the necessary precautions to prevent developing the COVID-19 disease, and it segments them based on homogenous behavior groups. Lastly, it provides communication techniques that should be implemented, targeting each citizen segment for a long-term COVID-19 free country. Data analysis revealed the extent of the applied precaution measures. The ones most applied by citizens were to avoid non-mandatory transportation, contact with individuals with respiratory symptoms, and individuals of high risk for severe illness (vulnerable groups). On the other hand, the least applied measures are daily checks of body temperature, monitoring for fever, cough, or dyspnea, use of a face mask when in public places, or when using public transportation. Additionally, cluster analysis revealed five groups of citizens based on self-reported behavior, namely, the Meticulous Proactive Citizens, the Self-isolated Citizens, the Cautious Citizens, the Occasionally Cautious Citizens, and the Unconcerned Citizens. Communication strategies targeting each segment are also discussed.

Knowledge Assessment of COVID-19 Symptoms: Gender Differences and Communication Routes for the Generation Z Cohort

“…Proactive communications play an integral role in a public health emergency and crisis and can become one of the most significant interventions in order to provide actual information [ 20 ]. As shown from the study’s results, younger citizens should be better informed about COVID-19 and the symptoms of the disease.…”

“…A pilot test ( n = 28) led to modifications concerning syntax and grammar errors, simultaneously ensuring face validity [ 20 ]. A combination of non-probability sampling methods was used (criteria, convenience, and snowball) utilizing online platforms.…”

“…For this research, data were gathered from Greece. Greece had taken proactive measures in an early stage, thus managing to have a rather small number of COVID-19 related confirmed cases and deaths [ 20 ].…”

“… It studies self-assessed knowledge of COVID-19 symptoms, which is at present an understudied issue (42 academic papers exist to our knowledge). While COVID-19 is subject to extensive ongoing research, areas of main focus as regards individuals’ behavior mainly focus on the psychological impact of COVID-19, impact on work and telework, and protective measures that citizens comply with, e.g., [ 20 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ]. It provides an in-depth insight of research referring to young people’s self-assessed knowledge regarding the symptoms of COVID-19, an understudied topic too.…”

Effective Measures Coping with COVID-19 Pandemic Based on fsQCA: Evidence from China

“…Others have analyzed the health emergency management system and prevention and control measures of other countries, summed up their successful experience and pointed out the defects. For example, Li [5] comparatively analyzed the overall emergency management system and health emergency management system of typical countries such as the United States and Japan, and make recommendations for China's health emergency management system; Kamenidou et al [6] took Greek citizens as the research object and found that the most common methods for citizens to prevent COVID-19 are avoiding non-mandatory transportation, contacting with individuals with respiratory symptoms, and individuals of high risk for severe illness; Reis et al [7] used Brazil, Italy, and South Korea as the typical countries in the initial, peak, and controlled phases of COVID-19, respectively, and analyzed the importance of mitigation policies such as social distancing and isolation policies for controlling the spread of COVID-19. Other countries such as France and Germany have also adopted strict isolation and containment measures such as the "foot ban" and "social ban", and achieved prevention and control results such as a decline in hospital admissions and a slowdown in the pandemic.…”