South Africans can be divided into two broad groups: those that are largely adhering to Covid-19 preventative measures, and those that show only limited adherence to the recommended guidelines. It is this latter group that should be of concern as they are potentially super-spreaders of Covid-19.
According to Ask Afrika’s Covid-19 Tracker study, the larger of these groups, representing around 65% of South Africans, can be classified as exhibiting high adherence to sanitation and preventative measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing, while the remainder – 35% - can be classified as demonstrating limited adherence. The limited adherence group is least likely to observe behaviours pertaining to social distancing and isolating after testing positive for Covid-19 – potentially becoming super spreaders of the virus.
South Africans are torn with regards to whether or not they get vaccinated against Covid-19. According to the Ask Afrika Covid-19 Tracker study, just over half of respondents (52%) said they planned to get vaccinated when the vaccine roll-out programme reaches them. This is a concern given that the country needs to vaccinate two-thirds of the population - or around 40 million people - if it is to achieve so-called herd or community immunity.
The study found that 19% of respondents said they did not plan to get vaccinated and 28% said they were unsure whether they would get vaccinated. Of this latter figure, significantly more females than males said they were unsure of whether they would get vaccinated.