OBJECTIVE: Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in December 2019 there has been a rapid spike in COVID-19 burden in North and South America, many physical, psychological, social, health and financial human endeavors have been affected. Hence, this review aims at assessing the knowledge and adherence of Americans to the public health guidelines of COVID-19 management using literature. 

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The selected representative studies on knowledge and practice were done using Google Scholar, PubMed and Scopus using the keywords “COVID-19”, “knowledge”, “adherence” and “North and South America”.

RESULTS: The result revealed a relatively good knowledge but relatively poor adherence to the laid down public health guidelines such as social distancing, wearing of masks, avoiding crowded places, handwashing etc. Since most respondents were residents, this gives a clear indication on the level of adherence to the public health guidelines and indicates where poor practice of the public health guidelines dominates and where negative attitudes likely due to ignorance, negligence and the inability to read and write as well as disbelief take root. However, educated individuals, that are middle aged had fair adherence.

CONCLUSIONS: We recommend that the populace need to put more conscious effort towards curtailing the spread of the virus by adhering to the public health guidelines to curb the spread of the virus and enhance the eradication of the pandemic.