The attitude of many Ghanaians to comply with the COVID-19 pandemic prevention protocols was not encouraged in early March 2020 when the country recorded its first two cases. This has been attributed to a viral infodemia in which the black gene is immune to the coronavirus. Since then, several thousand Ghanaian citizens have tested positive for the corona virus, contrary to the previous false claim that the virus is resistant to black skin. There are currently 22,822 coronavirus cases and 129 deaths in Ghana. The ever-increasing number of reported COVID-19 cases should have made ordinary Ghanaians very cautious if they had followed safety protocols closely. On the contrary, some Ghanaian citizens, most of whom are illiterate, have identified a random survey by the author.
Two popular opinions were expressed in the survey. The first and most important opinion was that the statistics on COVID-19 cases reported in the COVID-19 Daily Update of the Ghanaian government instrument Ghana Health Service were false and misleading to attract international funds. Therefore, the numbers that these Ghanaians have signals for the corona virus in countries are misleading and politically motivated to help the country receive international funding. Political voters reached out to the government at the time using what they would have used for their political campaigns in the parliamentary elections scheduled for December 7, 2020.
The second popular opinion that many Ghanaians have received under the illiterate category is that they are not sure about the existence of the corona virus. Although some Ghanaian politicians and successful members of Ghanaian society have died from COVID-19, many still doubt the true cause of their deaths. Some Ghanaians even claim they won’t believe the corona virus exists unless a family member infects it or dies as a result. Others claim that the government and other professional associations have exaggerated their health effects despite the existence of the corona virus.
Based on these two popular views, compliance with COVID-19 security protocols is not a priority or requires special attention. These people do not watch the wearing of masks. Even though they have face masks, they refuse to wear them. Few of those who do this notice the presence of the police. Many others give weak excuses as to why they don’t wear face masks. They claim that wearing the face mask for a long time makes it difficult to breathe, while many others say audible speech becomes a challenge. Unfortunately, the attitudes of these Ghanaians, if not corrected or produced, could in the near future lead to a leap forward in the cases reported by COVID-19 in Ghana. To remedy the situation, the Ghanaian government needs to deploy more security personnel in different cities and towns across the country to implement the Ghanaian government’s face mask directive anytime, anywhere.
The governorate should guarantee through the Ghana Health Service that public health awareness of the presence of the coronavirus and the relevance of respecting all safety protocols to prevent infection exists. and the spread of the coronavirus to disperse the country’s growing COVID-19 coronavirus infodemics. In addition, the Ghanaian health service should use the information centers in the various small towns and municipalities tactfully as a means of communication to disseminate public health education on the coronavirus in its local dialects. This could complement the Ghanaian government’s already good efforts to use radio, television and print media to educate the public about the corona virus. These recommendations have helped prevent the likely hype surrounding the number of COVID-19 cases in Ghana which is expected in the near future due to the emergence of new, rapidly spreading infodemics.