Among young people and those with basic schooling, disbelief rises to 18 percent.
MEXICO CITY (El Financiero) – Four months after the World Health Organization declared the pandemic. With Mexico among the countries with the highest number of deaths attributed to Covid-19, 9 percent of Mexicans do not believe the coronavirus exists, and another 5 percent do not know what to say. In contrast, 86 percent of those consulted in a national survey by El Financiero believe that the coronavirus exists.
According to the study, those who doubt the coronavirus’s existence are young Mexicans, aged between 18 and 29. 18 percent say it does not exist or do not know. Among Mexicans with basic education, with a similar figure of 18 percent who doubt the existence of the virus that has plagued societies and countries in recent months.
According to the survey, those who least doubt the coronavirus’s existence are Mexicans with university studies. Still, even among them, 4 percent expressed doubts about the existence of the virus.
Most Mexicans believe that coronavirus does exist.
The survey also indicates that 59 percent of those interviewed are very concerned about the coronavirus, the same figure recorded in the previous study of June 27. The concern remains stable.
However, given the reopening that has begun to occur in the country, citizen support for reopening life frequently fell from 44 percent to 37 percent between June 13 and July 11. In contrast, support for confinement rose again, from 56 percent to 61 percent in that period. The reason is that most citizens do not perceive that Mexico is emerging from the pandemic: 46 percent believe we are still in a stage of growing contagion from Covid-19, while 30 percent think we are at the peak. Only 19 percent believe the country is on its way out.
Concern over COVID-19 continues.
On the other hand, the survey records an increase in the proportion of Mexicans who know an infected person personally, from 43 percent to 47 percent between June 27 and July 11. Almost half of all Mexicans know someone who has been infected with the coronavirus. And a third knew someone who died from Covid-19: 32 percent. According to the survey, of the 47 percent who said they knew someone who was infected, 18 percent reported that it was a family member. Of the 32 percent who said they knew someone who died from Covid-19, 11 percent said it was a family member.
When asked whether they use a mask in public places, 56 percent said they do use it all the time, 27 percent said they do most of the time, and 10 percent said they use it little or never. The remaining 8 percent said they try not to go out in public places.
According to the survey, 87 percent of the respondents agreed that using a mask in public places should be made mandatory, while 13 percent said they disagreed.
Most respondents use a mask.
The survey reveals that two-thirds of the respondents do not expect that there will be a vaccine soon. The same figure was recorded at the end of March. If there were such a vaccine, 67 percent would feel very or somewhat safe, while 30 percent would feel unsafe or not safe at all.
Finally, between May and June, the percentage that much believes the official figures of those infected fell from 32 to 14 percent, and in July, it was 17 percent. The government’s credibility in terms of the pandemic has dropped dramatically.