Youth Leaders' Perception of Community Responsiveness to Health and Social Protocols for Curbing the Spread of the COVID – 19 Pandemic in Akwa Ibom and River States of Nigeria

The study examined youth leaders' perception of the extent of community responsiveness to health and social protocols for curbing the COVID-19 pandemic in Akwa Ibom and River States of Nigeria. Two (2) research questions and two (2) hypotheses guided the study. The design for the study was the descriptive survey and the population comprised 3624 youth leaders in Akwa Ibom and River States, from which 1450 (40%) were sampled using the proportionate stratified random sampling technique. The instrument of the study was a validated 39-item Youth Leaders Perception of Community Responsiveness to Health and Social Protocols for COVID-19 Curbing Scale (CRHSPCCS), designed by the researchers in the modified four-point Likert scale, with a reliability index of 0.85, obtained using Cronbach Alpha Statistics. Mean and standard deviation were used in answering the research questions, while z – test was used in testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the study showed that, youth leaders’ perception of the extent of community responsiveness to health and social protocols for 
curbing the COVID-19 pandemic was at a low extent and that there were no significant differences between the mean ratings of youth leaders from AkwaIbom and River States on the extent of community responsiveness to health and social protocols for curbing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Akwa Ibom and River States of Nigeria, respectively. The study concluded that, the extent of responsiveness to health and social protocols for curbing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Akwa Ibom and River States tilted negatively to health protocols and positively to social protocols. Consequently, the study recommended that health workers should endeavour to mount spirited enlightenment programmes on the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, so that, community residents can embrace adherence to health protocols during health emergencies, just as social workers should continue to educate community residents on the need to embrace social distance and other social actions during periods of health and social emergencies.