The level of reducing social contacts in connection with the coronavirus pandemic in Slovakia remains high and is not declining, with Slovaks reducing their contacts more significantly than respondents in the Czech Republic, according to a 'How Are You, Slovakia?' survey carried out by the Slovak Academy of Science's (SAV) Institute of Sociology, MNFORCE agency and Seesame communication agency in late March on a sample of 1,000 respondents.
"There is no so-called pandemic fatigue even after three months of the toughest lockdown in Slovakia," said Miloslav Bahna of Slovak Academy of Sciences. The survey showed that 37.7 percent of respondents absolutely limited their social contacts with other people and with the family, while 56.9 percent stated they partially limited their contacts and 5.4 percent of respondents did not limit their social contacts at all.
Questions comparable with a similar survey carried out in the Czech Republic were included in the Slovak one. These questions allowed the comparison of two aspects of adhering to anti-pandemic measures - the level of reducing social contacts and wearing of face masks or respirator masks.
The survey carried out in the Czech Republic showed that 30 percent of respondents definitely did not reduce or rather did not reduce their contacts. The group of people who have not reduced their contacts is more than a half lower in Slovakia (13 percent). Bahna ascribed the difference to a stronger presence of voices questioning anti-pandemic measures in public discourse in the Czech Republic. Concerning face masks or respirator masks, the surveys showed a high level of their use in both countries. Roughly the same share of respondents in Slovakia (72 percent) and in the Czech Republic (65-72 percent) stated they are wearing face or respirator masks in public.
Source: TASR
