Evaluating compliance with COVID-19 social distancing protocol in a university in the south-east of Nigeria using radio frequency identification

Abstract

The 2019 coronavirus pandemic is considered a global health emergency and the greatest challenge human kind has faced since World War II. The disease has claimed many lives globally and has caused major economic deterioration. The most challenging is the constant change of the virus through mutations leading to emergence of different variants. There are stipulated measures to mitigate the spread of this virus amongst which social distancing protocol seems to be the most effective. This study measures compliance with COVID-19 social distancing protocol using Radio Frequency Identification in a university in Southeastern Nigeria. The result reveals low indicators of compliance with the social distancing precautionary measures. The results from different faculties indicate that the students did not comply, with an average compliance of 24 percent. The study contributes to present and future pandemic management as the rate at which the virus spreads despite the precautionary measures were alarming. Hence the need to measure compliance in real time rather than adopting an abstract method in a critical situation of this nature.