Center for Innovative Health Research, Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19726, USA.
Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19726, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Sep 3;18(17):9329. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18179329.
The COVID-19 pandemic severely affected many aspects of human life. While most health agencies agree mask wearing and physical distancing reduce viral transmission, efforts to improve the assessment of these behaviors are lacking. This study aimed to develop a direct observation video method [Viral Transmission (VT)-Scan] for assessing COVID-19 transmission behaviors and related factors (e.g., environmental setting). A wearable video device (WVD) was used to obtain videos of outdoor, public areas. The videos were examined to extract relevant information. All outcomes displayed good to excellent intra- and inter-reliability with intra-class correlation coefficients ranging from 0.836 to 0.997. The majority of people had a mask (60.8%) but 22.1% of them wore it improperly, 45.4% were not physical distancing, and 27.6% were simultaneously mask and physical distancing non-compliant. Transmission behaviors varied by demographics with white, obese males least likely to be mask-compliant and white, obese females least likely to physical distance. Certain environments (e.g., crosswalks) were identified as "hot spots" where higher rates of adverse transmission behaviors occurred. This study introduces a reliable method for obtaining objective data on COVID-19 transmission behaviors and related factors which may be useful for agent-based modeling and policy formation.
COVID-19 大流行严重影响了人类生活的许多方面。虽然大多数卫生机构都认为戴口罩和保持身体距离可以减少病毒传播，但缺乏改善这些行为评估的努力。本研究旨在开发一种直接观察视频方法[病毒传播 (VT)-Scan]，用于评估 COVID-19 传播行为及相关因素（例如，环境设置）。使用可穿戴视频设备 (WVD) 获取户外公共区域的视频。检查视频以提取相关信息。所有结果均显示出良好到极好的内部和内部可靠性，组内相关系数范围从 0.836 到 0.997。大多数人都戴了口罩（60.8%），但有 22.1%的人佩戴不当，45.4%的人没有保持身体距离，27.6%的人同时不遵守戴口罩和保持身体距离的规定。传播行为因人口统计学特征而异，白人、肥胖男性最不可能遵守口罩规定，而白人、肥胖女性最不可能保持身体距离。某些环境（例如，人行横道）被确定为“热点”，在这些地方发生不良传播行为的几率更高。本研究介绍了一种可靠的方法，可获取有关 COVID-19 传播行为及相关因素的客观数据，这可能对基于代理的建模和政策制定有用。
