How people are facing and perceiving COVID-19 in Itaberaba, Bahia

Abstract

The objective of the study is to identify how people are facing and perceiving the COVID-19 pandemic and how much information they believe they have about the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). This is a cross-sectional quantitative study, carried out on a sample of 246 respondents who are residents of Itaberaba and its surrounding region, and it was analyzed with the help of the SPSS Software. The results indicate that knowledge about the virus influences the way of coping with the pandemic; that there is a difference between some groups in the way of coping and that people's well-being is influenced by social isolation. Among other conclusions, it is possible to observe a certain similarity in the respondents' social perception of the pandemic; that there is a growth in empathy feelings over this period and that the confrontation with the pandemic is different among groups according to age, income, marital status and residential factors.