85% of Filipinos still worried about getting coronavirus – SWS

MANILA, Philippines — An estimated 85 percent of Filipinos are still worried about catching COVID-19, according to a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), the results of which it released on Wednesday.

The survey did not present a big change in the worry of Filipinos, compared to an SWS survey done last May.

The latest survey was conducted from July 3 to 6 through mobile phone interviews of  1,555 respondents, all of them adult Filipinos

The results also showed that 67 percent were “worried a great deal” and 18 percent were “somewhat worried” — a total of 85 percent who were worried.

“This hardly changed from the 87% worried (73% worried a great deal, 14% somewhat worried), 7% worried a little, and 7% not worried about catching the virus in May 2020,” the SWS said in its report.

“Compared to past SWS surveys, worry about catching the COVID-19 is greater than worries about catching previous viruses such as Ebola, Swine Flu, Bird Flu, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS),” it added.

SWS noted that the survey was taken after community quarantines were eased in most parts of the country, including Metro Manila — the residents of which appear to be the most worried, with 92 percent of the population fearing infection.

After Metro Manila, fear of the coronavirus was highest in Balance Luzon at 87 percent, followed by the Visayas at 85 percent and Mindanao at 77 percent.

The government has been criticized often for its alleged shortcomings in its COVID-19 response, saying that the administration has been prioritizing other matters over the ongoing health crisis.

However, Cabinet officials, including presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, had assured the public earlier that the government’s COVID-19 response was not failing, citing studies that place the number of infected individuals at 3.5 million if the government had not enforced various levels of quarantine nationwide.

Incidentally, the SWS also observed a correlation between a higher worry and a higher educational attainment — as worry among college graduates was at 89 percent, followed by junior high school graduates at 86 percent,  elementary graduates at 80 percent, and non-elementary graduates at 79 percent.

The SWS said that the number of the respondents were divided according to area estimates from the Philippine Statistics Authority, with 306 from the National Capital Region, 451 from Balance Luzon, 388 from Visayas, and 410 from Mindanao.

The survey firm maintains sampling error margins of ±2% for national percentages, ±6% for Metro Manila, and ±5% for Balance Luzon, ±5% for the Visayas, and ±5% for Mindanao).

/atm