Prevalence of facemask use among general public when visiting wet market during Covid-19 pandemic: An observational study.

BackgroundIn late December, 2019, an outbreak of a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19; previously known as 2019-nCoV) was epidemiologically linked to a seafood and wet animal wholesale market, in Wuhan, Hubei, China. This have instigated stigma among general population as wet market is viewed as high risk location for getting infected with coronavirus. ObjectiveThis study investigated the prevalence of facemask use among general population visiting wet market. This study also investigated the demographic factors contributing to unacceptable facemask practice. SettingThis prospective observational study was done among visitor to a district wet market selling range of live or freshly slaughtered animals during COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. MethodsIndividuals entering through dedicated entry point were observed for the type, category and practice of wearing personal protective equipment. Inclusion criteria for this study were any individuals entering the wet market. Subjects were categorized into two groups of acceptable and unacceptable facemask practice. The Pearson chi-square was used to test for differences in investigated variables in the univariate setting and Binary Logistic regression model was used in the multivariate setting. Main outcome measurePrevalence, acceptance practice and odds ratio of unacceptance of facemask use. ResultsAmong 1697 individuals included in the final analysis, 1687 (99.7%) was observed wearing facemask with 1338 (78.8%) using medical-grade facemask. Among them, 1615 (95.7%) individuals facemask practice was acceptable while the reaming 72 (4.3%) individuals was observed with unacceptable facemask practice. Individuals using medical grade facemask and high-risk age group are 6.4 times (OR=6.40; 95% CI, 2.00-20.43; p=. 002) and 2.06 times practice (OR=2.06; 95% CI, 1.08-3.94; p=.028). More likely to practice unacceptable facemask use respectively. ConclusionHigh saturation of facemask among general population is an adequate indicator of public hygiene measures strategy which can help to mitigate the COVID-19 epidemic impact. Alarmingly, the unacceptable facemask practice among high-risk population raises the need for a targeted approach by healthcare authorities to ensure satisfactory facemask use.