Perceived Risk of COVID-19 and Related Factors Among University Students in Ethiopia During School Reopening

Background: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has posed a great threat to the public University students living in school compound with groups and sharing a common cafeteria are more susceptible to contract and spread the virus Risk perception multiplies fear and anxiety that triggers precautionary action However, research is scant in this particular field Objective: To assess the perceived risk of COVID-19 and its associated factors among University Students in Northeast Ethiopia during school reopening Methods: Institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 682 Debre Berhan University students from December 1-15, 2020, when students just get back to school Data was collected using a structured and pre-tested questionnaire A multistage sampling technique was used to select study subjects Data were cleaned and entered into Epi-Data version 4 6 and exported to SPSS version 25 software for analysis Descriptive statistics, bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis were run to summarize the results Results: The overall perceived risk of COVID-19 was 296 (43 4%), 95% CI (39 4-47 4) Age (AOR (CI) =3 27 (1 87-5 71), open relationship (AOR (CI) =3 17 (1 73-5 79), fathers' education (AOR (CI) =2 29 (1 31-4 02), having diabetes (AOR (CI) =2 64 (1 15-6 07), and information source from ministry of health (MOH) (AOR (CI) =1 87 (1 27-2 75) had significantly high-risk perception However, students who use Facebook (AOR (CI) =0 57 (0 39-0 82) and Websites/articles (AOR (CI) =0 14 (0 06-0 34) had significantly low-risk perception Television (59 8%) and Telegram (66 6%) were the primary sources of information, while the World Health Organization (68 3%) was the most trusted source of information Conclusion: University students perceived a low risk towards COVID-19 pandemics at the time of school resumption It was influenced by students' demographic characteristics, co-morbidities, social media, and information sources The Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education should properly promote risk communication among university students