Among the 638 respondents took part in the online questionnaire survey, 608 responses were included for analysis after the excluding the responses for healthcare worker and incomplete responses. From the final sample, about 60% of the respondents were male and rest were female. Majority respondents (65.95%) were in the age group 18-25 years, followed by respondents from 26-35 years (30.59%), and rest were above 36 years. The majority of the respondents completed higher secondary (57.45%), followed by 32% having a bachelor degree or above and rest had primary education completed. More than 1/3rd of the respondents were students, about 27% were businessmen, around 7% were housewives and rest were involved in other occupations (Table 1).
Less than half of the respondents (44.25%) were regular in using mask while going out of home and rest were irregular in using mask. More than 2/3rd of the respondents never washed hands with sanitizer/soap before and after using masks, and rests were irregular with the etiquette. Only about 3% were regular in using gloves while going out of their homes whereas just about less than 1/4th of the respondents rarely used or never used gloves (Table 2). Mean weekly number of masks needed by the respondents was 2.69 and majority needed 2-3 masks weekly on average. Mean weekly number of gloves required by the respondents was 1.2 and majority required 1-2 gloves weekly on average. Key informant interviews revealed mixed attitudes, confusion, ignorance and reluctance in using masks even among the educated people. Discomfort, hot weather, unaffordability and not a scientifically proved method were commonly reasoned by the majority key informants for not using mask regularly. One of the graduate students from an educational institute of Dhaka city said-
“Wearing mask could be unhealthy and unnatural. It can harm your body due to lack of oxygen, especially among the people with asthma. However, health experts are not discussing these things. Even in China, it's not a law to wear masks all the time.”
In another key informant interview, a job holder in a private company in Dhaka city stated-
“Majority people don’t use masks even after imposition of a law with fines, many don’t know the proper way to use. Everybody keeps their nose open with a hanging mask over their mouth. Everybody remove their masks while coughing and sneezing, so it is meaningless. People are like wearing masks outside and remove it when entering shops and offices.”
About 2/3rd of the respondents used medical mask and 1/3 respondent used cloth masks. However, contrasting information was revealed through key informant interviews. A cloth mask was preferred over surgical mask, as it is more comfortable in a hot and humid weather, can be reused after washing. Many times, surgical masks were also reused many days before disposal. A middle-aged housemaid said-
“I am using this cloth mask for many days. Often, I clean it with soap water and dry in sunlight.”
About the disposal of the PPEs, more than 90% of the respondents disposed the used PPEs at their house, about half of the respondents informed that they disposed the used PPEs at their workplaces and around 40% of them disposed on open places in the streets (Table 2). About 47% the respondents always disposed the used PPEs in the nearby dustbins, whereas majority disposed often in open places and few of them always disposed the used PPEs in open places. About 2/3rd of the respondent disposed the used PPEs along the normal garbage, and about 1/3rd among them disposed in a plastic bag. The majority respondents (58.21%) perceived that the inappropriate disposal of COVID-19 masks and gloves was considerably alarming and about 23% anticipated the situation highly alarming; whereas about 1/4th believed the situation was under control. Qualitative finding suggested similar finding too. Sewage and drainage system at many places had been reported to be clogged by the COVID-19 masks and gloves, and the used PPEs could be easily seen here and there. Lack of awareness and adequate roadside dustbins were reasoned for the situation. A waste handling worker said-
“Countless masks and gloves are in the streets and we don’t have adequate safety while picking wates. Many of my co-workers have been affected by this corona disease.”
Majority respondents (55.39%) didn’t have proper facility of dustbins to dispose the used PPEs at their workplace. Key informant interviews further revealed, although there were existing dustbins in the offices or other work places but no special initiative had yet been taken to dispose these highly infectious items separately from general garbage.