Durizzo Kathrin, Asiedu Edward, Van der Merwe Antoinette, Van Niekerk Attie, Günther Isabel
Development Economics Group & Center for Development and Cooperation (NADEL), ETH Zurich, Clausiusstrasse 37, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), P.O. Box LG 78, Legon, Accra, Ghana.
World Dev. 2021 Jan;137:105175. doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105175. Epub 2020 Aug 28.
Without a vaccine, practicing social distancing and protective hygiene are the most effective measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. In order to understand how the urban poor mitigate their risk of infection, we conducted a survey with more than 1,400 poor households in two of the African cities with the most COVID-19 infections, Accra and Greater Johannesburg, early in the pandemic, during lockdowns of public life. We find that many of the urban poor already engage in the appropriate hygienic behavior and follow social distancing rules. However, despite citywide lockdowns, about 25-40% of people still report attending large gatherings, 10-20% report receiving guests at home, and 30-35% report leaving the house more than once per week. Lack of cooperation with governmental regulations seems to be more related to a lack of infrastructure or poverty rather than unwillingness to engage in behavioral change. Interestingly, even with the stricter lockdown in South Africa, people are at least equally likely to deviate from social distancing rules. Our results indicate that more South African respondents perceive their government's actions as too extreme and underestimate COVID-19 cases in their country. About half of the sample in both countries report knowing (mainly through TV) about current COVID-19 case numbers. Most participants know that coughing is a symptom, but only half mention fever and difficulty breathing, and very few people mention tiredness. Ghanaians seem to be somewhat better informed. While lack of information is an issue, misinformation appears to be limited. We conclude that a costly shutdown of public life is only effective-and might even be prevented-with a well-informed population, who perceives their government's actions as appropriate and who has access to the infrastructure required to follow WHO safety regulations.
在没有疫苗的情况下，保持社交距离和采取防护性卫生措施是遏制新冠病毒传播的最有效措施。为了了解城市贫困人口如何降低感染风险，在疫情初期、公共生活封锁期间，我们对非洲新冠病毒感染病例最多的两个城市——阿克拉和约翰内斯堡大都市区的1400多户贫困家庭进行了一项调查。我们发现，许多城市贫困人口已经采取了适当的卫生行为并遵守社交距离规则。然而，尽管全市实施了封锁，仍有大约25%-40%的人报告参加大型聚会，10%-20%的人报告在家接待客人，30%-35%的人报告每周外出不止一次。与政府规定缺乏合作似乎更多地与基础设施不足或贫困有关，而不是不愿意改变行为。有趣的是，即使在南非实施了更严格的封锁，人们违反社交距离规则的可能性至少同样高。我们的结果表明，更多的南非受访者认为他们政府的行动过于极端，并且低估了本国的新冠病毒感染病例数。两个国家约一半的样本报告称（主要通过电视）了解当前的新冠病毒感染病例数。大多数参与者知道咳嗽是一种症状，但只有一半的人提到发烧和呼吸困难，很少有人提到疲劳。加纳人似乎了解得更多一些。虽然信息缺乏是一个问题，但错误信息似乎有限。我们得出的结论是，只有当民众了解情况、认为政府的行动恰当并且能够获得遵守世卫组织安全规定所需的基础设施时，代价高昂的公共生活封锁才会有效，甚至可能避免。
