Knowledge, Beliefs/Attitudes, and Practices of Rural Residents in the Prevention and Control of COVID-19: An Online Questionnaire Survey

The outbreak of COVID-19 quickly spread to 184 countries and regions around the world. It has drawn great attention from the WHO and was declared an international public health emergency on January 31, 2020. Because the population is generally susceptible to the virus, there are no effective drugs and vaccines, and active participation of the entire population in self-protection and self-isolation has become the key to cutting off transmission routes and effectively controlling the epidemic. A self-designed questionnaire to assess residents’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to COVID-19 prevention and control used the Questionnaire Star service platform, and snowball sampling was used to invite rural residents to complete the questionnaire on WeChat. A total of 554 valid questionnaires were collected. Rural residents’ average scores on knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding prevention and control were 40 ± 7 (total of 50 points), 45 ± 3 (total of 52 points), and 92 ± 12 (total of 127 points), respectively. A lack of protective materials and weak awareness of prevention and control are the greatest difficulties and challenges experienced by rural residents during the epidemic. Accordingly, social support services, such as public transportation plans, supply chains for living materials, and orderly returns to work, need to be strengthened. Moreover, new infectious disease control is not only a task for individuals but also a global issue. It is of great significance to guarantee information transparency and enhance health risk communication.