Perception of the epidemic risks of the COVID-19 pandemic by the population of Ukraine

Abstract

In the social network Facebook from April 2020 to October 2020 an online survey using the "Google Form" was conducted to study the perception of the COVID-19 pandemic by the residents of Ukraine. The study involved 550 participants residing in the Ukraine-controlled territory and the city of Kyiv. The data are as follows: the coronavirus is considered a serious danger by 33.3±2.0% of respondents and 11.6±1.4% agree with certain doubts (in total – Σ44.9±2.1%); 21.1±1.7% believe that the coronavirus is not serious and 17.3±1.6% believe that it is probably not serious (Σ38,4±2.1%). COVID-19 is recognized as a pandemic by 73.6±1.9% of respondents, of them 45.6±2.1% of respondents completely agree with this statement. Different views towards the severity of the problem show little but reliable correlation with age (r^c =0,23; p<0.001), gender (r^c =0,21; p<0,001) of the respondents, as well as with the size of the locality where respondents live (r^c =0.30; p<0.001). It was revealed that men (47.2±3.6%), persons over 50 years of age (47.5±5.0%) and residents of small towns with a population of 3,000 to 10,0000 residents (47.7±4.3%) are more skeptical about this issue. The majority of respondents have a moderate level of epidemiological vigilance – 299 (54.4±2.1%); this means that a person emphasizes the seriousness and real threats of coronavirus infection, perceives and adheres to the adopted measures, but with certain hesitations. A high level of epidemiological vigilance characterized by confidence in the real situation and the adopted measures is found in 119 (21.6±1.8%) respondents. A low level of epidemiological vigilance is in 121 (22.0±1.8%) res­pon­dents. Only 11 people (2.0±0.6%) have the overall sum of points, which indicates the absence of epidemiological vigilance.