Coronavirus outbreak: How confident are you your government can respond?
People have more confidence in their healthcare system than levels of governments to deal with the outbreak.
More than one and a half months since China confirmed it was treating dozens of cases of the coronavirus, the outbreak has spread to 29 countries, infecting more than 75,000 people globally and killing more than 2,000.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the epidemic a global health emergency more than two and a half weeks ago as governments step up efforts to try to contain its spread with new measures to protect people.
But how confident are you that your government and health officials can handle this health epidemic?
In a Global Advisor survey conducted this month, we asked more than 8,000 people in eight major countries if they were confident their government and healthcare services are prepared and can effectively deal with the coronavirus.
People in Japan (81%), Australia (80%), Canada (78%) and the U.S. (73%) were most confident their healthcare system could handle the outbreak, while those in Russia (44%), Germany (38%), the U.K (25%) and France (25%) were most likely to say they are not confident in the system.
On average, those aged over 50 had the most confidence in their healthcare services, national and local governments to handle the outbreak, while those younger than 35 were least confident.
‘Corona anxiety’
Dr. William Schaffner, Professor of Preventative Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in the U.S., said the results are in line with the era we live in where people are skeptical, if not mistrusting, of authorities.
“People recognize that this is a virus where the information is just changing, and it really makes them somewhat uneasy,” said Dr. Schaffner. “There’s a natural question of whether we can keep up with the virus, how well are we doing, and that requires a fair amount of reassurance.”
He points to what’s happening in the U.S., saying they have a much larger epidemic of “corona anxiety” than actual coronavirus infections.
As of February 19, 15 people had tested positive for the coronavirus, also known as COVD-19, in the U.S, according to the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. That is not including the potentially positive cases among the people evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
Dr. Schaffner added that some of the anxiety is fueled by the media with reports emphasizing “the deadly” coronavirus.
“The television reporting today is so immediate and social media. We see pictures of many, many people in China, and then the reporting - which is accurate - shows the virus is continuing to spread and China is having difficulty managing the sick people, let alone prevention,” said Dr. Schaffner.
Out of nine sources on the coronavirus outbreak, respondents across the eight countries cited social media networks as the least reliable source of information with just over one in four people (27%) having confidence in the platforms. Meanwhile, more than three in four people (78%) had confidence in information from medical professionals such as doctors and nurses.
Still confidence in information about the outbreak from media outlets such as television, radio and newspapers were in the majority for all of the countries, except in Russia and France.
‘Developed’ healthcare systems
With Canadians having the highest confidence in their national and local governments to handle the outbreak out of all of the countries surveyed, Dr. Isaac Bogoch, Infectious Diseases Specialist at Toronto General Hospital and University of Toronto, said that having a developed healthcare system is essential to handle such outbreaks, because it requires expertise and resources.
“You need a functioning public health system not only to manage ill individuals, but manage the public health initiatives around those ill individuals such as contact tracing systems for communication between different levels of government,” said Bogoch.
But even with the current risk level for coronavirus in Canada currently close to 0% with eight confirmed cases in the country, along with 32 Canadians onboard a cruise ship in Japan with the virus, Bogoch said it’s too soon to know how the outbreak is going to play out.
“I don’t think anyone can look you in the eye and tell you with a straight face today what direction this is going to go,” said Bogoch. “Regardless of how it evolves, we should be prepared for the scenario that China cannot contain this, and that we will have more widespread cases.”