Some Pinoys say it will, some say it will not
Filipinos are split on whether or not the country's COVID-19 situation will worsen or the worst is already behind them, the latest Social Weather Stations survey said.
The survey from May 4 to 10 with 4,010 respondents found out that 47 percent of Filipinos believe that the “the worst is yet to come” regarding the COVID-19 crisis in the Philippines as compared to 44 percent who said “the worst is behind us.” Eight percent did not give an answer.
The survey also showed that the majority of those who said the worst is yet to come were from Visayas at 54 percent, followed by Metro Manila at 50 percent, Mindanao at 48 percent, and Balance Luzon at 43 percent.
SWS said that since the May 2020 survey, tighter community quarantine has been reinstated in Cebu City, reverting from General Community Quarantine (GCQ) to Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), and Leyte, reverting from Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) to GCQ. Both areas are in the Visayas.
As of July 1, only Cebu City remained under ECQ. Metro Manila and selected areas in the Visayas (Leyte, Ormoc, Southern Leyte, and the cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Talisay, Minglanilla, and Consolacion in Cebu) and Luzon (Benguet, Cavite, and Rizal) stayed under GCQ, while the rest of the country were placed under MGCQ.
On the other hand, those who said the worst is behind us were highest in Balance Luzon at 49 percent, followed by Metro Manila at 43 percent, Mindanao at 42 percent, and Visayas at 38 percent.
SWS said that opinion about the COVID-19 crisis did not vary by quarantine status with 47 percent in both areas under ECQ and GCQ areas saying the worst is yet to come while 45 percent in ECQ areas and 44 percent in GCQ areas said the worst is behind us.
Forty-nine percent of those whose quality of life worsened in the past 12 months (losers) said the worst is yet to come regarding the crisis, compared to 43 percent of those whose quality was unchanged (no change), and 42 percent of those whose quality of life improved (gainers).
Fifty-six percent of those expecting their quality of life to worsen in the next 12 months (pessimists) said the worst is yet to come compared to 44 percent of those expecting their quality of life to stay the same (neutrals) and 38 percent of those expecting their quality of life to improve (optimists).
The SWS said the survey was conducted through mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interviewing among working-age Filipinos 15-years-old and above nationwide randomly selected from a database of mobile phone numbers compiled from SWS national and subnational representative face-to-face surveys since 2017.
SWS noted the sampling error margins of ±2% for national percentages, ±6% for Metro Manila, ±2 for Balance Luzon, ±3% Visayas, and ±3% in Mindanao.