EIGHT out of 10 Filipinos are worried about catching the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the July 3 to 6 mobile survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.
SWS said the number remained high.
The survey, which involved 1,555 adult respondents nationwide with a margin of error of ± 2 percent, showed that 85 percent are worried about getting infected (composed of 67 percent who are “worried a great deal” and 18 percent are “somewhat worried”), while 8 percent said they were “worried a little” and 7 percent were not worried at all.
SWS said this hardly changed from the findings in May 2020 where 87 percent said they were worried of being infected (composed of 73 percent worried a great deal and 14 percent somewhat worried), 7 percent who were worried a little, and 7 percent who were not worried.
Worry about catching COVID-19 was highest in Metro Manila with 92 percent followed by those in Luzon (87 percent), the Visayas (85 percent) and Mindanao (77 percent).
SWS found that women were more worried about being infected (87 percent from 86 percent) compared to men with (83 percent from 87 percent) while those with higher educational attainment were more worried about getting the coronavirus or 89 percent among college graduates (unchanged from May 2020), 86 percent from junior high school graduates (down slightly from 88 percent), 80 percent from elementary graduates (down from 83 percent) and 79 percent from non-elementary graduates (hardly changed from 80 percent).
By age group, more respondents belonging to the 18 to 24 and 35 to 44 age groups were worried about being infected with 88 percent, followed by those from 25 to 34 age groups (85 percent), 45-54 (83 percent), and 55 and above (81 percent.)
SWS, comparing the fear of COVID-19 with past survey data, said more people are worried about catching the coronavirus than catching previous viruses such as ebola (82 percent) in 2014, swine flu (82 percent) in 2009, bird flu (83 percent) in 2006 and 2004 (80 percent), and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2003 (78 percent).
