AUTHOR=Wajid Syed , Samreen Sana , Sales Ibrahim , Bawazeer Ghada , Mahmoud Mansour Adam , Aljohani Majidah A. 

TITLE=What Has Changed in the Behaviors of the Public After the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Cross-Sectional Study From the Saudi Community Perspective

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.723229

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.723229

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by SARS-CoV and represents a major public health threat that aggressively promotes increased morbidity and mortality. Changes in public behavior were more common during the pandemic to protect against the infection. Suboptimal behavioral practices on a specific disease would increase the susceptibility of the pub-lic to infection. This study aimed to determine the changes in behaviors of the general public dur-ing COVID-19.  
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire survey to deter-mine the extent of public behavioral changes in Saudi Arabia during COVID-19. The data was collected by a self-reported survey, and analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 26 (SPSS). A chi-square test was used to determine the association between the variables. A P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.  
Results : Of 348 respondents, 244 (70.1%) were male, and 270 (77.6%) had a university degree. Approximately 48% used social media to seek COVID-19 information, and 36% (n = 124) avoided large gatherings. Approximately one-fourth of respondents always avoided public trans-portation while 65.8% reported avoid travelling to infected areas. Of the participants, 33% al-ways washed their hands, while 36% always used alcohol-based sanitizer. There was a significant association between age group and employment status with respect to hand washing frequency (p < 0.05). There was also a significant association between age group (p < 0.0001), and employ-ment status and the wearing of face masks (p < 0.048). 
Conclusion: The present study highlights the public's changes in behaviors in Saudi Arabia dur-ing the COVID-19 pandemic for protection against the infection and reports acceptable preven-tative practices against COVID-19 in the Saudi community. Furthermore, continuous awareness of the recommended protective measures for COVID-19 is still warranted.