87% of Pinoys worry about family member catching Covid-19: SWS

FILE: Residents observe social distancing while buying their basic food needs from the “Mobile Palengke” in Sitio Inuman, Barangay Inarawan, Antipolo City on Friday (March 27, 2020). (PNA photo by Joey O. Razon)

MANILA – At least 87 percent of Filipinos are worried that anyone in their immediate family might catch coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), results of the latest survey released by pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS) on Sunday showed.

The May 4-10 SWS mobile phone survey, which interviewed 4,010 working-age Filipinos nationwide, found that 13 percent are not worried about catching the highly-infectious virus.

Compared to past SWS surveys, worry about catching Covid-19 is greater than worries about catching Ebola at 82 percent in 2014, swine flu at 82 percent in 2009, bird flu at 83 percent in 2006 and 80 percent in 2004, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) at 78 percent in 2003.

The worry about catching the virus hardly varies in enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) areas at 88 percent and general community quarantine (GCQ) areas at 86 percent.

It is higher in Metro Manila and Visayas at 93 percent and 91 percent, respectively compared to Mindanao and Balance Luzon at 85 percent and 84 percent, respectively.

The survey also found that worry about catching Covid-19 is also higher among Filipinos than among Britons, Australians and Americans, based on similar surveys.

Seventy-eight percent of Britons and 75 percent of Australians fear that they may catch the virus, according to the Roy Morgan Research online surveys of March 18-20 and March 28-29, 2020.

Seventy-nine percent of Americans worry about getting infected by the virus, based on the ABC News/Ipsos Poll May 13-14, 2020 online survey.

As for awareness, nearly all or 94 percent of Filipinos are aware of the Covid-19 symptoms, most mentioned of which are fever at 87 percent and cough at 86 percent.

Other symptoms mentioned by respondents were colds (50 percent), difficulty breathing (46 percent), throat pain (33 percent), body pain (20 percent), headache (15 percent), diarrhea (11 percent), and constant fatigue (2 percent) while 10 percent mentioned other unspecified symptoms.

The awareness of Covid-19 symptoms is high in both ECQ and GCQ areas, at 96 percent and 92 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the awareness of Covid-19 symptoms is highest in Metro Manila at 98 percent, followed by the Visayas at 96 percent, Balance Luzon at 94 percent, and Mindanao at 90 percent.

The two other most mentioned symptoms are fever and cough in all areas.

Colds is the third most mentioned symptom in Metro Manila (51 percent), the Visayas (59 percent) and Mindanao (54 percent).

Difficulty in breathing is the third most mentioned in Balance Luzon (48 percent).

There are currently 14,035 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country, 868 deaths and 3,249 recoveries as of Sunday (May 24).