Despite a ubiquitous presence in news coverage and headlines and concerted testing and awareness campaigns by the government, South Africans are still not entirely sure about how the COVID-19 coronavirus works.
A survey conducted by gig economy company M4Jam and sponsored by digital training provider i-People via 1000 respondents’ mobile phones indicated that while 55% of the sample of South Africans from all provinces considered themselves to know “a great deal” about COVID-19, some of their other responses contradicted this.
“32% of respondents were more circumspect, saying they knew “a fair amount” about the virus, with only 3% claiming to know “nothing at all” about the most newsworthy event of the year, which is responsible for the national lockdown implementation,” said Georgie Midgley, CEO of M4Jam.
South Africans responding to the survey, of whom 37% were from Gauteng and 25% from KwaZulu-Natal in a demographically representative sample, said they were mostly in good (31%) to very good (28%) and even excellent (24%) health.
When asked if they were concerned about contracting the virus, 77% of respondents said they were worried, while only 23% felt there was no reason to worry.
Opinions on whether they were likely to contract COVID-19, however, were much more evenly split, with 40% trusting they would not contract the virus, 14% thinking there was no chance of contracting it, and 37% believing they might get it. 9% of respondents felt they were very likely to get COVID-19.
In assessing the media’s role in informing the public about the virus and keeping us up to date, 75% of respondents believed media outlets, in general, were not exaggerating the seriousness of the pandemic. In comparison, 10% considered the media as overhyping the virus and its effects.
A resounding 75% of those taking the survey thought they could successfully prevent themselves and their families from getting the virus, with the remaining 25% believing they could not, even with their own behavioural and preventative measures in place. Most respondents are not panicking, though, with 54% thinking the majority of those infected will not die and 21% unsure.
94% of respondents said they were now washing their hands with soap and water more often, and 88% are using disinfectant and hand sanitiser daily. 95% are also avoiding shaking hands with any other person.
If they notice symptoms in themselves or others, 88% of respondents said they knew what to do to seek help and get tested. Still, when it came to the actual treatment of the virus, 44% said they were unsure if antibiotics could treat the infection, and 12% thought it could cure it, which is not factual. 41% were also uncertain whether taking antibiotics could prevent contracting the virus, and 10% incorrectly thought antibiotics could prevent transmission of COVID-19.
More worryingly, says Midgley is that 37% of respondents were unsure of whether eating garlic could reduce a person’s chances of contracting the virus, and 27% believed eating garlic would be useful in lessening chances of transmission. Despite no available evidence to support the belief that animals and pets can spread the virus, 39% of respondents said they were unsure whether to be wary of animals transmitting the virus and 23% thought pets and animals could pass it on to humans.
