Abstract :

The World Health Organization stipulated safety guidelines to curb the spread of Covid-19. In this study, the influence of workshop temperature, duration of practical class and week of study on compliance to nose masking and hand washing by engineering students of Imo State Polytechnic Umuagwo during practical were evaluated. Firstly, the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of the students were obtained using a well-structured questionnaire and analyzed using the Likert 5-point rule, while the significant means differences were determined using Tukey’s method at a 5% probability level. Secondly, a 17-unit experiment designed in Box-Behnken with Design-Expert software version 11.0 was used to study the interactions of each numeric factor varied at 3 levels and regression models that captured 99.16% (R2 = 0.9916) and 98.17% (R2 = 0.9817) variations in the prediction of the number of nose masks and volume of water for hand washing, respectively were generated. Three levels each of workshop temperatures (23 – 25, 26- 28, and 29 - 31oC), practical duration (0 -20, 21-40, and 41-60 minutes), and week of study of school resumption (3, 4, and 5) were considered. The results show that 68.88%, 71.38% and 60.63% of the students have ‘good’ KAP toward Covid-19between weeks 3 and 4, the use of nose masks dropped by 64.20% where as the volume of water increased by 28.06%. Between weeks 4 and 5, nose masking dropped by 63.22% whereas the volume of water for hand washing rose by 15.95%. Nose masking reduced with increased workshop temperature and week of study whereas hand washing increased with workshop temperature. The outcome of this study will aid in the development of prediction models for transmittable diseases and would help formulate policies and guidelines for health regulatory agencies. Recommendations for further studies were stated.