Lankans feared health and economy most during month-long shutdown

• Interesting insights to locals’ anxieties, coping mechanism and rating of Govt.’s COVID-19 mitigating measures in pro bono survey by PepperCube

Sri Lankans feared most the family’s health and safety as well as economic impact from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic during the month-long shutdown, according to a survey done by market research consultants PepperCube.

In a pro bono COVID-19 sentiment survey carried out with an all-island sample of 2,300 including online and offline data collection from 1 to 13 April, PepperCube endeavoured to assess emotions experienced, key concerns, anxieties faced, coping mechanisms during the shutdown, how the Government has managed the situation and overall satisfaction levels etc.

The key emotions experienced have been broadly categorised into three segments such as anxious, scared and cautious. Majority (59%) were cautious and 44% were scared and the rest anxious.

Out of the anxieties faced, 52% of the sample have had family’s health and safely as the main concern, while 44% felt uncertain about the future. It was 43% who worried about the long-term economic impact.

Key concerns of the people from the shutdown were diverse. Disruption of day-to-day routine came up to 46%, 44% were disturbed by the inability to socialise and 43% listed insecurity regarding the future as a key concern. Of the surveyed, 39% were concerned with the difficulty in purchasing essentials and 36% were agitated with the difficulty in staying indoors 24/7.

For the question of how they coped during the shutdown, a high 82% did by practicing self-quarantine and 80% did by eating healthy meals. Of the surveyed, 71% opted to be practical in rationing food items, and an equal percentage resorted to video calling loved ones in order to cope in the first fortnight of the shutdown. Consuming immune boosters regularly was done by 62% who found this as a mechanism to cope.

When inquired on how the Government of Sri Lanka has managed the COVID-19 challenge, a great number of 77% felt that it was done by getting the armed forces involved. It was 66% that had the sentiments that the Government managed the situation by deploying dedicated medical staff.

While 65% felt that imposing curfew based on risk levels was the way it was managed, 64% and 58% felt that creating sufficient quarantine facilities and enforcing crowd control were the management schemes, respectively.

Current satisfaction level on the COVID-19 context by the sentiments of those surveyed were measured on a five-point scale. Point 1 being extremely dissatisfied, point 2 being dissatisfied and point 5 being extremely satisfied.

Results showed that a huge 97% were enormously satisfied with the health sector, while satisfaction with the Tri-Forces closely followed being 96% along with the Police not being too far away but with an impressive 94%. 91% claimed to be satisfied with the President of Sri Lanka, though only a 59% were so with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. The general public did not score that well as only 33% were satisfied with the conduct of the same.

With regard to the usage of information sources and their credibility, 86% of the surveyed relied on the television whilst its trust factor was 82%. Though social media recorded the second highest usage with 60%, it was also the second least trusted with only 12% trusting the said source. The radio was used by a little more than half the number who used social media but a quarter of the sample population trusted it.

E-newspapers and apps were used by 29% and trusted by 16%. Though the same percentage of 25% who trusted the radio used web/blog and gossip sites, only a minute number of 4% trusted them, making the category of web/blog and gossip sites the least trusted of all sources of information. International news sites on the other hand were used by 24% and trusted by an equally near number of 20%.

For an interactive discussion on the PepperCube research insights, those interested can join the ‘What’s Next’ webinar on 23 April at 7 p.m. Free registration at https://forms.gie/NC6QQZJyvvJSZb4F8.