Public Perception of Physical Distancing in Preventing the Spread of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in the City of Banda Aceh in 2020

Abstract

Introduction: Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic disease occurred in 2020 which is

followed by ongoing control efforts. Physical distancing is one of the government’s policies to stop the

spread of corona virus. In the city of Banda Aceh, there are two community gathering places that are usually

used, first is the coffee shop and second is place of worship such as mosque and mushola. One factor difficult

to control is the behavior of the people of Aceh who like to hang out for a long time in the coffee shop, sitting

together while enjoying coffee. If the people do not pay attention to the government appeal, it is feared that

COVID-19 will be widely spread.

Objective: This study aims to determine the knowledge and behavior of the public on physical distancing in

preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the City of Banda Aceh in 2020.

Methodology: The method used here was descriptive survey. The population in this study were all people in

the city of Banda Aceh. Data collection used Google Form. The samples were collected in 30 days as many

as 196 respondents.

Results: The survey results found that 93.9% of respondents had good knowledge on physical distancing,

there were 90.8% respondents who agrred that gathering in a coffee shop could transmit COVID-19 and

57.1% understood that lock down could prevent the spread of COVID-19. Regarding the respondents’

behavior, it was shown that 7.1% still travelled out of town, 52% stayed at home and 89.8% left the house

when they needed something. Regarding the respondents’ habits, 78.6% always wore a mask when leaving

the house, 87.8 % always washed their hands in the space provided, 64.3%, always used hand sanitazer

when touching an object in a public place, 42.9% still performed either five daily prayers or Friday prayer in

congregation in the mosque. Furthermore, there were 83.7% who used private transportation, 5.1% gathered

in a coffee shop among >4 people with a duration of more than 1 hour.