83% of Pinoys believe worst of Covid-19 is over–survey

THE latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed that 83 percent of Filipinos believe that the worst of Covid-19 is over.

According to SWS, this percentage is higher as compared to the 80 percent surveyed in December 2021 and almost twice as high to the 44 percent when SWS first asked the question in a similar poll in May 2020.

The SWS survey, using face-toface interviews conducted on April 19 to 27, stated that most of those who expressed that “the worst is behind us” were from Mindanao with 86 percent, Metro Manila with 82 percent, Balance Luzon with 82 percent, and Visayas with 81 percent.

There were 1,440 poll respondents nationwide with 360 each in Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao with sampling error margins of ±2.6 percent for national percentages and ±5.2 percent for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The SWS survey showed that 16 percent feared that “the worst is yet to come.” This is lower are compared to the 19 percent in December 2021.

“On the other hand, the percentage of those fearing ‘the worst is yet to come’ is slightly higher in the Visayas [18 percent], Balance Luzon [18 percent], and Metro Manila [17 percent] than in Mindanao [12 percent],” the SWS survey showed.

On the other hand, 88 percent of Filipinos are worrying about catching Covid-19, 74 percent a great deal worried, 14 percent somewhat worried and 12 percent “a little worried/not worried,” 4 percent a little worried, 8 percent not worried that anyone in their immediate family might catch Covid-19.

“Compared to past SWS surveys, worry about catching Covid-19 is much greater than worries about catching previous viruses such as Ebola, Swine Flu, Bird Flu, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome [SARS],” the survey, released on July 20, said.