MANILA, Philippines — Nine out of 10 Filipinos remained hopeful even as COVID-19 raged for the third straight year with a new virus strain causing surges in several countries around the world.
The latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that 93 percent of adult Filipinos said they would ring in 2022 “with hope,” just a two-point increase from last year’s 91 percent.
The increase from 2020 to this year is “not statistically significant,” and both figures are still below the 96 percent registered in 2019 before the coronavirus hit the country, SWS said.
The contagious respiratory disease was first recorded in China in December 2019 and soon found its way to the Philippines in January 2020.
As of Wednesday, the Philippines has had 2.84 million cases with 51,241 deaths, the worst public health crisis in Philippine history.
But 19 other countries were worse off, with the United States reporting 53 million cases followed by India’s 35 million and Brazil’s 22 million cases.
Globally, there have been 281 million cases with 5.4 million deaths, according to the World Health Organization.
Only 7% fearful
According to the SWS survey, only 7 percent of respondents said they would enter the new year “with fear,” but even then, that number was the same as the number of fearful people in 2020.
A hopeful disposition for the new year rose in all areas, except in Mindanao where it remained at 93 percent.
In Metro Manila, hope for the year 2022 had the highest jump from 90 percent to 95 percent, followed by the Visayas from 88 percent to 90 percent, and 92 percent to 93 percent in Luzon outside Metro Manila.
SWS also found that hope for the new year increased in all educational groups, except among nonelementary graduates where it slightly dipped from, 91 percent to 89 percent.
Among college graduates, hope for the new year rose from 94 percent to 98 percent. This was followed by junior high school graduates (92 percent to 94 percent) and elementary graduates (from 89 percent to 90 percent).
According to the poll, 98 percent of those who expected a “happy Christmas” also share a positive outlook for the coming year.
SWS started its survey on the Filipinos’ attitude toward the new year in 2000 when it found that 87 percent of Filipinos were hopeful in the coming year.
The latest survey, which was conducted from Dec. 12 to Dec. 16, used in-person interviews of 1,440 adults and had a margin of error plus-or-minus 2.6 percent for national percentages and plus-or-minus 5.2 percent for Metro Manila, the Visayas, Mindanao and Luzon outside Metro Manila.