Public willingness to comply with anti-pandemic measures is now at a minimum, according to a 'How Are You, Slovakia?' survey carried out by the Slovak Academy of Science's (SAV) Institute of Sociology, the MNFORCE agency, and the Seesame communications agency on a sample of 1,000 respondents between October 5-10.
A lower degree of willingness to comply with anti-pandemic measures throughout the period under consideration was expressed by those respondents who also stated that they were not planning to be vaccinated against COVID-19. However, since May the willingness to comply with the measures has declined to a similar extent among the rest of the population as well.
In addition to those respondents who don't plan to be vaccinated, a lower degree of willingness to observe the measures was also expressed by men, those who don't feel threatened by the pandemic, and respondents who are dissatisfied with the government's approach to managing the coronavirus epidemic. On the other hand, older respondents expressed a more thorough compliance with the measures.
"As during last year's second wave of the pandemic, the third wave shows that the respondents' perception of risk and adherence to measures don't reflect the real epidemiological situation. Among the vaccinated, the lower rate of perceived risk can be connected in particular with the feeling that they are protected. As for the unvaccinated, denying the seriousness of the situation may also be a defensive reaction, or it may be part of their protest stance and overall dissatisfaction with the government’s managing of the pandemic," said Barbara Lasticova of SAV's Social Communications Research Department.
