Dissemination Needed to Prevent Covid-19 Cases from Rising
Editor
15 December 2023 12:34 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Budi Haryanto, Professor at the Faculty of Public Health, University of Indonesia, said that disseminating health protocols in the media needs to be pushed again to suppress COVID-19 cases, which have recently increased. He said that the public's current perception that COVID-19 is not as serious as before, combined with a lack of communication, has made it difficult to implement prevention efforts.
"Not many people know that there is an increasing rate of COVID-19 cases," he said.
According to Budi, many people with flu symptoms go for check-ups because they are worried about the spread of pneumonia. From the examinations, it was found that many were positive with COVID-19.
Budi said that nowadays many people have stopped implementing health protocols, including not wearing masks. During the pandemic, he said, masks were mandatory. "Today, in the current situation, it is impossible to enforce mask-wearing. This means we have to use other ways," he said.
Media dissemination and PSA
Budi believes that dissemination can be encouraged again using traditional media such as television through public service announcements (PSA) or commercial breaks. One example is by embedding the message in advertisements about multivitamins. He considers TV to be the best option because it offers a variety of channels that people at home watch. In addition, popular social media such as Instagram can also be used to deliver the message.
"Don't forget that we must remind the public to routinely wash their hands again," he said. "There must be more access to hand washing stations. [Public places] must also provide hand sanitizers again. These things must be made available again."
He also reminded people with flu symptoms similar to COVID-19 symptoms to stay home until they recover. After recovering, they are advised to wear masks when leaving the house.
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