The government received a grade of 84.16 points out of 100 for its response to the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation survey.
The survey, the results of which were released by the foundation yesterday, asked respondents to answer questions on 10 topics, including the government’s handling of cross-strait relations and its epidemic-prevention measures.
On the issue of the government’s response to COVID-19, 50.5 percent of respondents gave the government a grade of 90 points or higher; 24.7 percent a grade of between 80 and 89 points; 9.1 percent a grade of between 61 and 69 points; 9.6 percent a grade of 60 points; 3.1 percent a grade of less than 60 points; and 3 percent declined to give an evaluation.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The 94 percent approval rating of the government’s response and the 75 percent of respondents who gave it a grade of 80 points or more was a “very high evaluation that is rarely seen,” foundation chairman Michael You (游盈隆) said.
The results were a confirmation of the good performance of Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) and the Central Epidemic Command Center as a whole, he said.
The survey also asked respondents to comment on their perception of the seriousness of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The results showed that 97.6 percent felt the situation in China was “serious,” while 88 percent felt it was “very serious.”
Asked whether they believed the Chinese government would get the outbreak under control, 20.9 percent believed it could, while 67.3 percent believed it could not.
Asked whether they wear a mask when using public transportation, 38.9 percent said they do, while 44.4 percent said they avoid public transportation altogether.
This showed that the public generally did not trust the government’s stated position that healthy people do not need to wear masks, even when taking public transportation, You said.
On the issue of the government limiting people to two masks per week, 30.7 percent “highly praised” the policy, while 40 percent “praised” it.
The survey, conducted on Monday and Tuesday last week, collected 1,079 valid responses by telephone and had a margin of error of 2.98 percentage points.
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