“I don’t want to have anything to do with someone suspected of COVID-19”: a genuine infection avoidance interest or inappropriate concerns related to stigma?

BACKGROUND: Human existence is being challenged by an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2 that began in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Efforts to avoid the spread of COVID-19 are undermined by the appearance of disease-associated avoidance of infected persons due to reasons such as social stigma and discrimination. OBJECTIVE: This study seeks to investigate avoidance and discrimination against persons suspected of COVID-19 to help fight the pandemic in a predominantly rural setting in Ghana. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study is a cross sectional survey. A random sample of 517 individuals drawn from a health and demographic surveillance system database was used for this study. Participants resided in six contiguous districts and municipalities of predominantly rural setting in the Bono East Region of Ghana. RESULTS: The findings showed that majority (60%) of the respondents agreed that they won’t have anything to do with someone suspected of COVID-19. However, 67% of them were willing to accommodate persons that recovered from the infection. The majority (91%) of respondents agreed that there is a need to adopt tolerant attitude towards persons who recovered from the infection, whilst another 98% also reported the need to show compassion towards persons who recovered from COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: There is the need to pay special attention to avoidance of suspected infected persons due to stigma or any other reason since it is a threat to the fight against the pandemic.