Abstract

Objectives: Severe acute respiratory syndrome- coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2), to be controlled and prevented, needs integral communication and engagement among different sectors. This study aimed to assess preparedness and response levels among the house-holders in Gondar town, Northwest Ethiopia.

Methods: Community-based cross sectional study design was employed among house-holders from June 1-30, 2020. A single population proportion method was used to calculate sample size. Systematic sampling design was employed to collect data. We used SPSS version 21 for the analysis. Cross-tabulations were described among the variables with chi-square and p value reports.

Summary results: A total of 408 house-holders living in Gondar town were interviewed, out of these 256 (62.7%) were females, with the response rate of 96.68%

The data showed that all study participants, 408 (100%), had already heard about the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). But 14 (3.4%) of the respondents had misconceived the virus as it was the governmental program or a broadcast campaign. Despite of the true information, COVID-19 can infect anybody, 4.9%) and 11.3% of the study respondents reported that they couldn’t be infected by this virus, simply because they were young, and they did not know whether or not they could be infected respectively. This self-infection perception varied significantly (p<0.05) with the respondents` occupational status with best perception among merchants.

Conclusion: The risk communication among the house-holders was inconsistent with a variety of misinformation/rumor reports and community adherence on the public health measure for COVID-19 prevention was poor. The study shows that recommended preventive public measures were not practiced consistently across the study participants. Majority of the study participants reported that they might not use a national free call service (8335) for what to do purpose if they develop symptoms of the virus.

Recommendation:  For the broadcast media department: There shall be key information and guidance continually tailored and disseminated to the community through their preferred channel (Ethiopian television). For the community: Better to eradicate the misinformation/rumors, misperception and negligence and follow more trusted information sources to keep themselves and the community safe from COVID-19.