SWS: 87% of Filipinos worry about a family member getting COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines — Eighty-seven percent of Filipinos worry about a family member contracting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey results showed.

Of the 4,010 working-age Filipinos surveyed from May 4 to 10 via mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interviewing, 13 percent said they are not worried.

The fear of catching the coronavirus was higher in Metro Manila with 93 percent than in the Visayas and Mindanao regions with 91 percent and 85 percent, respectively.

According to the SWS, worrying of catching COVID-19 was greater  than worries of catching “Ebola at 82% in 2014, Swine Flu at 82% in 2009, Bird Flu at 83% in 2006 and 80% in 2004, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) at 78% in 2003.”

Filipinos worrying about catching the disease was also higher than other nationalities, said the SWS, citing similar surveys.

Britons and Australians were 78 percent and 75 percent worried, respectively, based on the Roy Morgan Research online surveys.

Americans, on the other hand, were 79 percent worried, according to the ABC News/Ipsol Poll.

Awareness of symptoms

When it comes to the awareness of COVID-19 symptoms, nearly all or 95 percent of Filipinos know that COVID-19 symptoms include fever and cough.

Other symptoms mentioned by the respondents were “colds (50%), difficulty breathing (46%), throat pain (33%), body pain (20%), headache (15%), diarrhea (11%), and constant fatigue (2%).”

/MUF