Community practices in COVID-19 outbreak in rural Ballabgarh, Haryana – A mixed methods study

BACKGROUND: More than 43 million cases and 5.2 lakhs death have occurred due to COVID-19 in India. Approximately 1 lakh people (cumulative) have been infected by COVID-19 in Faridabad district alone as of 4 April 2022. To understand the effects of COVID-19 on community practices this study was conducted. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Intensive Field Practice Area of Comprehensive Rural health Services Project (CRHSP), Ballabgarh, Haryana. Five hundred participants (≥18 years) were selected by using simple random sampling from Health Management Information System (HMIS) maintained at Centre for Community Medicine, AIIMS, New Delhi. Participants were informed regarding study and consent was taken. A semi-structured interview schedule was administered. RESULTS: Study participants included 500 adults (52.2% Male). Mean age (S.D.) of participants were 39.1 (14.9) years. Almost all participants started practicing hand sanitisation (496, 99.2%), avoiding crowd (488, 97.6%), and covering face with cloth/handkerchief (459, 91.8%). More than 80% (428, 85.6%) started using mask, and following cough etiquettes (405, 81.0%). More than three-fourth (389, 77.8%) participants were very unsatisfied with lockdown. Majority faced financial difficulties (322, 64.4%), followed by difficulty in their entertainment/recreational activity (158, 31.6%), difficulty in acquiring ration/food items (87, 17.4%) and mental stress (46, 9.2%) during lockdown. CONCLUSIONS: Rural community of Ballabgarh showed positive practices with respect to prevention of COVID-19. Financial distress and job loss due to lockdown were widely reported from the rural community. Majority of the community was displeased with lockdown as intervention for COVID-19.