COVID-19 pandemic: the population's view of preventive measures

Abstract

The aim of the study was to understand the population's perception of preventive measures to contain the transmission of the new coronavirus. Cross-sectional, exploratory, and descriptive study, with a quantitative approach, of non-probabilistic sampling. The research subjects were users of the social networks Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. An online form was used with sociodemographic and specific questions about this study. It was found that most participants support physical distance as necessary to control the COVID-19 pandemic, however, when it involves individual practices, it was observed that there is a divergence with the previous discourse. More in-depth studies are needed to better understand the factors involved in citizens' adherence or not to the measures imposed by health and government authorities and thus, they may be more assertive in the proposed measures.