Comparison of Public Awareness of Personal Hygiene before and during the COVID-19 Outbreak

The case of Covid-19 is still happening today with a prevalence rate still reaching two percent in Kendari city. The purpose of the study was to find out the comparison of public awareness of personal hygiene before and during or after the COVID-19 outbreak. This type of research is a quantitative cross sectional study design. 1,557 families with a sample of 94 families using Proportional Random Sampling. Wilcoxon test became the analytical method. The results of the study prove that there are differences in the level of public awareness before and during or after facing the COVID-19 outbreak as evidenced by the p value < (0.000 < 0.05), where more people are aware of personal hygiene during or after COVID-19 compared to before the onset of COVID-19. The conclusion of the study is that public awareness in the Work Area of the Perumnas Public Health Center on the application of personal hygiene has increased after the COVID-19 outbreak. It is recommended for managers of disease prevention and control programs to further increase outreach to the community in the Work Area of the Perumnas Health Center about the application of personal hygiene such as maintaining distance, using masks, washing hands and others.