ABSTRACT
Compliance
with COVID-19 preventive measure is a double edge sword cutting through the
fabric of the everyday life of the Nigerian citizen and the university
environment to be precise. it is considered that the viral respiratory infections
spread by direct contacts, such as touching an infected person or the surfaces
that the person has either touched, on which large virus-containing droplets
expired by the person lands and there the virus can remain stable for days. The
disease is also believed to be spread across a short distance by air.
The
clinical manifestation of COVID-19 is a dry cough, fever, and tiredness. Other
symptoms which may manifest in patients include headache, aches, pains, nasal
congestion, sore throat, conjunctivitis, diarrhea, loss of taste or smell or
discoloration of fingers or toes. It is important to note that there is a lot
of false knowledge and misconceptions about the disease in Africa and Nigeria.
These
misconceptions affect the degree of compliance to the stipulated preventive
measures and also exact an indirect effect of the disease on our environmental
health. Compliance with the preventive measure while aides in mitigating the
spread of the virus also affect other aspects of our environmental health and
our ecosystem by extension. Some of the preventive measures are constant
washing of hands, use of face mask, social distance, and self-isolation.
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Compliance withCOVID-19 preventive
measure is a double edge sword cutting through the fabric of the everyday life
of the Nigerian citizen and the university environment to be precise. It has
both negative and positive implications on the cumulative health of the
university society. Ranging from mental health-related issues, physiological
effects to effects on our ecosystem.
The
World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus disease 2019 a pandemic on
12th March 2020. (World Health Organisation, 2020) The disease is caused by a
severe type of Coronavirus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome
coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (Olapegba, et al., 2020). The disease originated in
Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019, by 24th , January 2020, minimum of 830 cases
had been diagnosed in nine countries (Unhale, Bilal, Sanap, & Thakhre,
2020).
Generally,
it is considered that the viral respiratory infections spread by direct
contact, such as touching an infected person or the surfaces that the person
has either touched, on which large virus-containing droplets expired by the
person lands (Lidia & Junji, 2020), and there the virus can remain stable
for days (Doremalen, et al., 2020) or via fomites (particles of skin cells,
hair, clothing, and bedding).The droplets can be transferred directly to a
person near an infected person. World Health Organization review in 2009 in
their report stated that infectious viral diseases can be transmitted over
distances compared to indoor environments by aerosols (e.g.
airborne infections), and results in clusters of infection in a short period.
From the studies on virus transport in general and similarities between the
SARS viruses, it is worth noting that the SARS-CoV-2 virus also spreads by air.
(Morawska, Johnson, Ristovski, & Hargreaves, 2008).
The
clinical manifestation of COVID-19 is a dry cough, fever, and tiredness. Other
symptoms which may manifest in patients include headache, aches, pains, nasal
congestion, sore throat, conjunctivitis, diarrhea, loss of taste or smell or
discoloration of fingers or toes. These symptoms manifest mildly and begin
gradually. Some persons become infected but only show mild symptoms. (Unhale,
et al., 2020) It is also important to note that COVID-19 shares some symptoms
with other diseases thus can be miss diagnosed as seen in the supposed Enugu
index case who was miss-diagnosed for COVID-19 disease, but further laboratory
testing result was negative (Olisah & Chika, 2020).
On
27th, February 2020, Nigeria confirmed its index case in Lagos State, an Italian
citizen who works in Nigeria had returned on 25 February from Milan, Italy
through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, He fell ill on 26 February
and was transferred to Lagos State bio security facilities for isolation and
testing (Wikipedia, 2020).
At
the onset of the pandemic, preventive measures are taken to protect against
imminent danger and control if not stop the disease spread.
In line with this, therefore, the Nigerian government (like every other
responsible government around the world) introduced various preventive
strategies which in tune have interferes with individuals’ daily lives and
consequently have led to critical economic loss, threaten the mental wellbeing
of the population and social disruption, university’s environmental health
inclusive. People were instructed to stay at businesses, home, and offices were
closed, exempting workers in essential services sectors like healthcare
facilities/workers and essential‖
commercial establishments. In Nigerians where majority of its citizens make a
living in the informal economy, their means of livelihood were threatened by
the lockdown since much of their activities and businesses involve face-to-face
contact. In Nigeria there is no social safety net, no access to food stamps, or
unemployment benefits, most people earn their living daily. Regardless of this
however, there has so far been a high degree of compliance with the government
directives, Nigerians are engaging in vigilant hand washing, practicing social
distancing and self-isolation, and avoiding going to work, school or crowded
areas. Religious leaders also assisted by the stope of large gatherings,
shaking of hands, and instructed her members to pray at home and observe the
various preventive measures instructed by the government. (Olapegba, et al.,
2020).
To
prevent further spread of the virus, civil societies, and government
agencies-initiated awareness programs for promotions of several preventive
measures. Body temperature screening was conducted at airports and those returning
from countries with a high number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 were advised
to self-isolate. The Nigeria Center for Disease Control in collaboration with
State governments also initiated tracing and tracking of victims and their
contacts. On 18th March 2020, the Nigerian government prohibited all gatherings
of fifty people or above for four weeks and ordered a stay-at-home (Ewodage,
2020). Similarly, the Nigerian government, on 30th March 2020 introduced
various containment plan such as the closing of the national borders and
airspace, schools, worship centers, and other public places, canceling of
public gathering events, the complete lockdown of the Federal Capital
Territory, Lagos and Ogun states for fourteen days initially (Radio Nigeria,
2020).
Currently,
the federal government while fighting the spread of the virus with massive
COVID- 19 screening tests and these preventive measures shows obviously that
priority revolves around people''''s health. Consequently, the indirect impact of
these preventive measures on environmental health has been little analyzed.
Some
stipulated COVID 19 preventive measures are listed as follows:
1. Social distance
2. Self-isolation
3. Washing of hands with detergent or use
of alcohol-based sanitizers
4. Putting on a face mask in public places
Medical
experts and researchers in the world work tirelessly towards the production of
COVID-19 vaccines and find more adequate ways to curb the spread of the
disease, it is important to note that there is a lot of false knowledge and
misconceptions about the disease in Africa and Nigeria. The WHO
says the disease has ignited the spread of false news and teaching. This
implies that a significant amount of information on social media, some simply
false. Specifically, some people in Nigeria doubt the existence of COVID-19;
others though admit the existence of the disease but do not believe that it
affects the poor or those who cannot or do not travel beyond the national
boundaries of the country. Another category believes that some sorts of
alcoholic substances and concoction can cure the virus or in the least prevent
them from getting infected. A good number of people believe that it is a
disease suffered only by the elite class and so it can not affect the poor
masses. Others believe that COVID-19 cannot survive in a region around the
equator as the temperature would kill it. While others believe it’s a death
sentence. They believe that it has no cure nor remedy which is contrary to the
reports of recovery from the disease. However, with more than 7,839 people
infected and 226 deaths recorded already in Nigeria as indicated on Nigeria
Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) website (NCDC, 2020) and 112,290 people
infected and 3,359 deaths recorded across Africa as indicated on Africa Centre
for Disease Control (ACDC) website(ACDC, 2020), it is crystal clear that the
virus is not selective as it keeps infecting the rich and the poor alike and
could potentially spread on African soil if not combated since the figures are
becoming more frightening daily. The false claims that the virus could be cured
or prevented by drinking the alcoholic substance, eating of garlic, lemon, and
good food to strengthen body immune system and the likes, have been debunked by
the WHO and many medical experts around the world. The only way out of it at
the moment is premised on personal hygiene - which includes regular hand
washing, social distancing, avoidance of large gathering, and regular
decontamination of the environment, etc. A lot of media files (most often
video, audios) have been circulating on social media with the claim that some
drugs combination can potentially reduce symptoms, unfortunately, there are no
data or known research conducted by the authors of this information to back up
their recommendations. An illiterate or literate that cannot source for a fact
will hook-line- and sink such an idea and drug abuse becomes the order of the
day. A strict measure was recently introduced by a popular social media
platform “WhatsApp” with more than 2 billion people in over 180 countries
across the world to limit viral message forwards to one chat at a time to stem
the rapid spread of COVID19 misinformation (CNBC, 2020). Although a user could
theoretically still forward the same message to individuals or groups one by
one it is believed this limitation will be effective in preventing a spread of
untrue information about the Pandemic.
1.2. STATEMENT
OF PROBLEM
Covid-19 pandemic
poses multiple threats to the environmental health of the university. The students
and staff of the university are affected by the disease, the false information
surrounding the disease, and the stringent preventive measures stipulated to
aid in mitigating the spread of the pandemic.
The general society
including the university society need to be educated on the need to adherence
to the COVID-19 preventive measures, the effects of abuse of the preventive
measures and how best to adapt in with the new mode of function in our society
towards a healthier environment.
1.3. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
A. To understand the nature of the COVID-19
pandemic in Nigeria
B. To study the different COVID-19
preventive measures
C. To highlight the effects of the COVID-19
preventive measure on our environmental health
D. To educate the public about COVID-19 and
separate facts from fictions