Even if the Republic of Moldova has fought the COVID-19 pandemic for almost ten months already, the parentage of those who consider the probability that they will become infected is low remains yet very high. The vulnerability of citizens to all kinds of false reports about the novel coronavirus disseminated in the public sphere is a problem faced by the authorities in the management of the pandemic. The Public Opinion Barometer (BOP) for October 2020 shows each fourth respondent believes COVID-19 does not exist and this is a myth.

In a news conference at IPN, Vasile Cantarji, sociologist of “CBS-Research”, said the percentage of those who not be believe in COVID-19 is concentrated in rural areas. 31% of the rural respondents consider this way. 47% of those polled have a low level of education.

“Being in the tenth month of the pandemic fight already, we tried to see the personal experience of the respondents. Currently, 3% of the respondents have personal experience in fighting COVID-19 as they were confirmed with the virus. Another 4.1% have such an experience in the household, in the family,” stated Vasile Cantarji.

One third of those interviewed know someone who tested positive for COVID-19. In this case, an inverse correlation is created with the indicators concerning the myth and probability of becoming infected. The persons who have such experience no longer tend to believe that the novel coronavirus does not exist.

Asked for how long the pandemic could yet last, 40% of the respondents said they didn’t put such a question to themselves. Actually, the people start to get used to the idea that this crisis will yet last: 32.5% consider it will last for over a year, 13.7% – for a year, 9.6% – for half a year, 3.5% – for another two-three months, 1.5% – for a month, while 0.9% believe the crisis is over.

Asked how they consider the authorities have managed the COVID-19 pandemic, 30.8% of those surveyed responded “neither…nor”, 23.6% - “badly”, 21.3% – “very badly”, while 14.5% – “well”. 8.1% of those interviewed said they cannot answer and only 1.6% said the authorities managed the situation “very well”.