Almost the majority of Filipinos are worried about contracting the deadly COVID-19, according to the latest survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).
The SWS survey found that a record-high 91 percent of 1,200 adult respondents were concerned that anyone in their family might catch COVID-19.
The latest percentage of those worried about getting COVID-19 was up four percentage points from June’s 87 percent and tied the record-high level reached in November 2020, the pollster said.
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 September 2021 survey also found those fearing “the worst is yet to come” with the COVID-19 crisis rising from 39 percent in June 2021 to a record-high 60 percent in September 2021.
This surpassed the previous worst of 57 percent in July 2020.
Conversely, those saying “the worst is behind us” fell from 59 percent in June 2021 to 38 percent in September 2021. This is the lowest since the record-low 35 percent% in July 2020, the SWS said.
The percentage of those a great deal/somewhat worried about catching COVID-19 is highest in the Visayas (95 percent), followed by Mindanao (94 percent), Metro Manila (91 percent), and Balance Luzon (88 percent).
Compared to June 2021, worry about catching COVID-19 rose from 90 percent in the Visayas, 90 percent in Mindanao, 85 percent in Metro Manila, and 85 percent in Balance Luzon.
The survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide.
It had sampling error margins of ±3 percent for national percentages and ±6 percent for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.