Poll: Coronavirus awareness nearly equal among Estonian-, Russian-speakers

The number of people following guidelines for the containment of the spread of the novel coronavirus has increased significantly, and the efforts of Estonia's Russian-speaking population have gone beyond that of its Estonian-speaking population, according to the results of a recent survey conducted by pollster Turu-uuringute AS.
79 percent of people believe they are following all guidelines for containing the spread of the coronavirus, 8 percent more than during the week before. 41 percent claim they have started making a greater effort, among them 46 percent of Estonia's Russian-speaking population, Turu-uuringute AS said in a press release.
Based on the results of the survey, it can be said that almost all Estonian residents are informed about topics related to the coronavirus, including 99 percent of Estonian-speaking residents and 97 percent of Russian-speaking residents responding that they were either well or rather well informed.
In addition to 7 percent in quarantine, 67 percent of Estonian residents stated that they are staying at home. The share of people moving around outside has gone down, decreasing from 31 percent last week to 25 percent this week. Those moving around outside cited going to work (63 percent) and going out for fresh air (50 percent) as their primary reasons for doing so.
14 percent of Estonian residents do not believe that their behavior has any significant effect on the situation. 7 percent of respondents, meanwhile, admitted that they are starting to get tired of staying at home, the largest share of which are among young people in the 15-24 age group.
Half of residents would support stricter measures
Tõnis Stamberg, a sociologist at Turu-uuringute AS, said that, in comparison with the two previous weeks, one can see that people's attitudes are stabilizing — information on necessary measures is understandable to all Estonian residents, and everyone has come to terms with the measures implemented due to the emergency situation in force in Estonia since March 12. Faith in the state's capability to act in a crisis, he noted, is high.
43 percent of people living in Estonia are satisfied with the current measures, while 51 percent would support making them even stricter. Compared with the previous survey, satisfaction with existing measures has grown 8 percent, while the share of people supporting measures has decreased 7 percent. Only 5 percent of respondents are in favor of alleviating current measures.
Even stricter measures saw the most support among residents of Valga (71 percent), Võru (66 percent) and Järva (71 percent) Counties, and are least popular among residents of Lääne County (26 percent), where 73 percent are satisfied with the measures currently in force.
23 percent of Estonian residents use the homepages of public authorities, including kriis.ee, as an important source of information; this rate is considerably higher among residents of other nationalities than among Estonians at 28 and 21 percent, respectively. The most active users of these homepages as sources of information include young people in the 15-24 age group (43 percent), who likewise constitute the most active users of the 1247 information hotline.
60 percent of respondents have noticed that the coronavirus-related situation has decreased the incomes of themselves and their families; this rate grew by 5 percentage points on week. According to survey results, Estonia's Russian-speaking population is more concerned, with concern about economic well-being increasing from 64 to 72 percent on week. Among those the most worried are those working in customer service and skilled workers.
In a survey commissioned by the Government Office, Turu-uuringute AS surveyed a total of 2,031 Estonian residents aged 15 and above via phone and online.
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Editor: Aili Vahtla