Survey: 56 percent of Slovaks Afraid of Coronavirus & Economic Impact

Bratislava, April 9 (TASR) – More than one half of Slovaks are afraid of the novel coronavirus and its economic impact, with women expressing concerns more frequently, especially for the health of their loved ones, according to a survey carried out by way of online interviews by agency Actly, TASR was told by agency director Tatiana Rosova on Thursday.

According to the survey, 56 percent of Slovaks feel “personal danger” related to the coronavirus, but the share of those who were feeling “grave danger” fell from 25 percent in the first week of the survey to 22 percent in the second week.

“One in three people rather don’t admit concerns, while one in ten people don’t admit them at all,” said Rosova.

When it comes to individual regions, the most concerned were people from Banska Bystrica region (63 percent), where, incidentally, there were the fewest infected. Conversely, people in Bratislava region, which had the highest number of infected, had the least concerns (42 percent).

More than 60 percent of those aged 60+ stated that they were afraid of the coronavirus, while those aged 18-29 were the least perturbed, with only 41 percent saying they are afraid of COVID-19.

Half of the respondents feared that they could lose their job as a result of the related economic crisis, but the intensity of this concern was somewhat down towards the end of the surveyed period.

One third of people have concerns about possible deterioration of relations in their family. This holds especially for people aged around 30. “This might be partly related to the fact that this age group also stated a reduction in household income (82 percent),” reads the report from the survey.

At the same time, 62 percent of people from the aforementioned age category said that they were afraid of possible insolvency.